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THE 

QUEST OF THE BEST 

INSIGHTS INTO ETHICS FOR PARENTS 
TEACHERS AND LEADERS OF BOYS 



BY 

WILLIAM DeWITT HYDE 

PRESIDENT OF BOWDOIN COLLEGE 



NEW YORK 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



r* 



Cdrratorr. ;tu» 






TO 

P. M. H. 

WHO IN SPITE OF MANY GOODS WITHHELD 

MAINTAINS FOR HERSELF AND INSPIRES IN OTHERS 

THE BLESSED AND ENDLESS QUEST OF THE BEST 



PREFACE 

AT Bowdoin College we are trying 
to bring professors and students 
together in common interests and 
tasks. As one application of this precep- 
torial method, we have a class of six 
students conducted by six professors. 
Each professor takes the six students 
for a period of about six weeks, during 
which they work together on some form 
of writing — verse, drama, essay, oration, 
translation or short story. Then the re- 
sult of their work together is submitted 
to the entire group of professors and 
students. 

As it fell to me this year to conduct 
this class for one period, having these 
lectures to prepare, I asked the class to 
do it with me, explaining the general 
plan, submitting for their discussion and 

iii 



/ 1CE 



I | 
them i 

: 
' | 

only representing u the result i iti- 
• iugg< hei rw 

. life, bol in 
theii w 
\ 
icknowledgmend the dm 

• I ■ for the 3 

Laurence A i reil, 

Walter I I It, Robert D I 

I I I I ind Kenneth A. R 

the 

I • (i neral A^embU ! \ 

W with B n>\, 

in M ! e thc\ were- mb- 

itani fii ind 

. the three hundred <>r m 

e\; s>emb! 

i : ; Lid men, full IU ind 

I 
I UD M ill further indebted b 



PREFACE 



for some things put in, and for more left 
out. 

As this book is written with a view to 
the training of boys, all theoretical con- 
troversies, such as those between free- 
dom and determinism, hedonism and 
idealism; and many practical topics like 
the ethics of the artistic and the insti- 
tutional life, are necessarily omitted. 

If all boys and girls could be sure of 
having kind parents and wise leaders 
who would protect them against the 
grinding tendencies of modern indus- 
trialism and city life, we might stop with 
the merely ethical program concluded in 
Chapter V. Since, however, multitudes 
of children are caught in the wheels of 
this mighty industrial machine, without 
either sympathetic parental or judicious 
scholastic guidance, it is necessary to 
supplement this distinctively ethical and 
personal program with the social re- 
forms outlined in Chapter VI. For, 
though these are not ethical in the sense 
of being direct contributions which in- 



I'Kl 



idtial parent m.ikc i | 

the cl the ii itl cfa 

the] ; i we .ill coll( 

i behalf of til chil- 
ill\ the t hildren ol the poor 

in 



Wii I >| W'n I 1 1 



I 

1 



CONTENTS 

Introduction Page 1 

I. Natural Badness the Germ of Good- 
ness 9 

II. Artificial Goodness the Repression 

of Badness 49 

III. The Quest of the Best 83 

IV. Missing the Best: Sins of Excess and 

Defect 121 

V. The Personal Motive and the Social 

Medium 163 

VI. The Birthright of the Child 204 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

INTRODUCTION 

THIS is a book for the top shelf, 
out of the boy's reach. Not that 
its counsels are bad; though 
it frankly takes the risk of going behind 
rules and commands to principles and 
freedom. The reason why no boy should 
read it is that it describes stages through 
which the normal boy should pass in 
entire unconsciousness that such stages 
exist. That was not a wholesome atti- 
tude revealed by a Seattle boy, who, in 
reply to his teacher's question, "What is 
the matter with you, James?" replied, 
"Oh, I'm passing through adolescence." 
Parents, teachers and leaders, however, 
ought to know these stages. For no 
parent, teacher or leader can train a boy 
aright unless he can see the boy's nat- 

1 



//// 01 ESI OF THi I 

.is the itufl neM a 

be mi icss 

firmly, w eal 

tfa the 
•t he mil fall fai ill 
them ; frank! 

ad, above all. 
leasi in ind 

what he invita the 
bj tfa tie 

the <i the 

poil the i hild" on the one hand, 
nfanf free * 
ther, there is r« train 

which shall be firm without har-hnetl 

ntimental I 

Th( I in t! 

in< ludini^ both 

ISC I h 

them bettei ; hut main! the 

-es through whu h the\ y 

h.uplv marked in h jt tl 
\ b j is m 

2 



INTRODUCTION 



than a girl in both badness and goodness. 
A girl is much more easily induced to 
pass from natural badness to artificial 
goodness by constraint, especially if that 
constraint takes the form of praise and 
blame. For she is far more sensitive to 
these influences than he. As an offset 
to this easier suggestibility, however, she 
is much more likely than he to settle 
down in artificial conformity to moral 
rules and social expectations, and thus 
miss the zest and ardor, the dash and 
daring, that go with ethical initiative 
and spiritual originality. 

This difference, however, is not abso- 
lute and universal ; but rather a tendency, 
a difference in degree. Some girls are 
more positively and perversely bad, or 
more originally and aggressively good, 
than most boys. In spite of their differ- 
ent tendencies, and the different empha- 
sis one would give to certain topics in 
books meant especially for either boys 
or girls alone, their problems are suffi- 
ciently similar to make a book like this, 

3 



Till QUES1 1 III Bl 57 

whuh in an 

it at their p 

lrpoie 
ber boys or girl 
n. 

The h t- into ethi< \ set forth 

I nature t> 

I intent 00 the imme- 

rhc 

that t! hat 

an, 
for V I this c 

mental I i is the ituff p 

must help them m. Ttt into the 

which it is the ^erm. 

ural 
gpodn ind 

Thete have their inr. 

it the artificial goodness 

whuh t!. :n, whether 

the B 

rd: The Quest I tl * is the 

D t i fulfill each inter 

further! the fulfillment! in pro] 
their worth ind I all inter 

4 



INTRODUCTION 



of all persons. It aims to conserve the 
good latent in natural badness, and 
avoid the badness inseparable from arti- 
ficial goodness. It is therefore extremely 
difficult, and never completely attained, 
except in so far as the steadfast Quest 
of the Best is itself the supreme moral 
good. 

Fourth: Acceptance of anything other 
than the Best, after the Best is once 
known, is sin. Sins are of two kinds — 
sins of excess, and sins of defect. Since 
sin is so natural and easy, and the Quest 
of the Best so supernatural and arduous, 
we are all, boys and men alike, sinners. 

Fifth: The only power that can draw 
a boy out of his natural badness and his 
conscious sin, into that Quest of the Best 
for self, for others and for all, which is 
the only real moral good, is a parent, 
teacher, or friend, who, already in this 
Quest himself, shares the boy's interests 
with him, and by close, constant contact 
lets the boy catch from him his own 
contagious character. 

5 



/// THE 

The met: ; 

rity 

ever, not m the jury 

and dial the 

only c It the 

• | 

n twenty different ipp] 
twenty appli 

atmeni rent 

J p 1 a i 
.it most sur] 
[ surprise tl I irt- 

it all. I A 

m Plai 

: I '.iul. I ha . 

rather than rc\ 

the- 
y'd : ; 

tc. 
Tlu j that I ire bj nature 

6 



INTRODUCTION 



bad is a rediscovery of the truth aimed 
at and overstated in the discredited dog- 
mas of total depravity and original sin. 
The teaching that enforced, or, as I have 
called it, artificial goodness has serious 
and even fatal limitations, is a revival 
of St. Paul's profound distrust of a 
"righteousness of the law" and "salva- 
tion by works." The Quest of the Best 
for self, for others, and for society, is 
only another name for Jesus' word love, 
without the sentimental associations that 
have gathered around that great word; 
and its difficulty is simply a reaffirma- 
tion of his saying that the way is a nar- 
row one which but few find and follow. 
The definition of sin as anything other 
than the Best, when that is once known, 
is the New Testament conception of 
dfiaprta over again, literally a missing 
of the mark. The teaching that boys 
can be won to the Quest of the Best only 
by the personal attraction of those who 
are already in it, and share with them a 
social medium — what is this but the eth- 

7 



////. <>( 1 ST <>! 111! 

... • • • : : ..- I I ; i trine 

I • • 

munity of life and ini I I 

\ them I And the idea that 
on! Idren from i 

injusti I pen 

but th llmenl of the proj thai 

i Little child ihtU lead them; that 
ra< h ii the Kingdom 



NATURAL BADNESS THE GERM OF 
GOODNESS 

NO elemental act, whether of eat- 
ing or drinking; whether of 
taking or procreating life; 
whether of appropriating property or 
conveying information; is intrinsically 
either good or bad. Such acts are no 
more moral or immoral than a millstone 
until given a setting in experience; com- 
pared with the practical alternatives 
which they displace; and made expres- 
sive of subconscious selection or con- 
scious choice. 

The millstone is neither bad nor good 
in itself, but may be called bad or good 
according as it is hung about a man's 
neck to drown him, or set to grinding 
corn to maintain his life. Precisely so a 
boy's elemental acts are not bad or good 

9 



I //// / 

ill the : id \s Ik 

than ih.n w h 
JOOd when tl 

a I D better than that which they 

\:. | 

to ■ • field, 

I it the lituation it 

than the >od 

'.hen the 
all pr. Ic alternative- tin 

I . nl, b 

nature bad. In Othtl while 

folly . 
it, and truthfully pr( test u didn 9 t 

mean to/ 1 J I mat: eir 

i tend 

• 

m the B 
• of the alter 
the 

i- bad, t! :)cm\ i 

I 

a boy who doei I 

thai! do the >ame; re- 
the r 



NATURAL BADNESS 



plea for mercy for all his numerous 
offenses. From his own point of view 
and from ours if we are sympathetic 
enough to take his point of view, he isn't 
bad. But from the social point of view, 
that is, in view of the greater goods dis- 
placed, his acts are bad; and he, as the 
subject and author of them, is bad. As 
the latter, if not the truer, is the more 
usual point of view, we shall accept it; 
and adopt, to be explained away later, 
the measure of error this popular point 
of view contains. 

With this explanation, I venture to say 
that boys are by nature bad. That 
sounds harsh and uncharitable. Yet 
every man who has been a real boy, 
whether he kept a real diary or not, 
knows the charge is true. Every parent 
who has had a boy of his own has had 
moments when it needed no argument 
to prove its truth. Every teacher, every 
leader who has had to deal with boys in 
the mass before law or grace has inter- 
vened to make boy nature over, will say 

11 



nttoi Inesi i • 

( h we h.t 

in the fat 
Mr 

g elen 
goodneti I be i bai gc thai 

means that I 

im- 
. inclii 
let uld m 

them 

I l ! al- 

l«>v. u| what the. I as 

the} WOttld like :<>, our homes 

lu- uninhabital uld 

lid be 

im; old be hell Put 

in theSC term-. I lOSpeCl P 

• • the | itioil that 

h\ nature h. 
y . . 

the ' II | | 

in the ir. 

the tend 
rmal boj u the thing thai 

12 



NATURAL BADNESS 



in him; to put his desires to the test of 
practice; to see how his impulses and 
instincts will work, and to make real in 
the outside world what otherwise would 
remain a pale and bloodless ideal. This 
self-asserting, ideal-realizing quality, 
bad as are its effects, is in principle the 
stuff of which all goodness is made. Un- 
less we appreciate, respect, develop and 
utilize that good element in the boy's 
natural badness, we shall never under- 
stand him, never win his confidence, 
never connect with his real self, never 
make of him a Christian man. All 
wrong dealing with boys, either assumes 
that the boy is pretty good by nature, 
which is a lie, and like all lies pernicious ; 
or it sees the badness without recog- 
nizing the element of goodness there is 
in it, which is a half truth; and like all 
half truths is dangerous. To think the 
boy all good is the lie of sentimentality. 
To think him all bad, without any ele- 
ment of goodness, is the half truth of 
brutality. Boys have suffered terribly 

13 



IT 

■ 
- the t\s«» t! 
the m 

meni t! 

tlu-n doei t 1 natural 

It. 
me moment 

tine t. u i! : lidering id ulti- 

matc i 

and the ^ ommui 

It putl what linn, then and 

1 for him 
in the future; what it I for otl 

what if B I 

mental what 

thai i 

for re — 

io the 
meat, the 
i h the moment 

u 



NATURAL BADNESS 



is but a small and fleeting part. The 
badness of an act then is measured by 
the greater good which the little imme- 
diate good for the sake of which it is 
done displaces. Most of the unrecon- 
structed elemental acts of a boy do thus 
displace for himself, for others, and for 
all, vastly greater good than the slight 
good of the immediate gratification. 
That is wherein the badness of a bad 
boy consists. Though he seeks good, and 
gets the good he seeks, he sacrifices 
greater good for self, for others, and 
for all. That greater good sacrificed 
measures his badness. As Stevenson puts 
it. "We are not damned for doing 
wrong; we are damned for not doing 
right." 

It is the deep tragedy of life that for 
the one thing we take we give up all 
competitors. If we take the little thing 
that fills our momentary self with satis- 
faction, we are very sure to be denying 
to ourselves, to others and to all, some 
greater thing, which because greater, 

15 



/ 111 i ///. I 

I bettei foi lell 

in thai Anything 

than die B illy bad In 

nature we 

mean then that t by nature 

Best i«»r themselves, for <>th 

The] b]f nature 

find their place, function ami j 

tioo in tt f whu h iter or 

I part A part 

rod proporti 

however good in ItSClfj it bad I say 

Qatar* nly 

ther w ing that with lin- 

UUnple and inline: 
find h md fur; D the wl. 

I h he II a part, and th 
the • « [ view i f t!ie w h )\t LI an 

dm id rebellion! member. 

Our gc tmenl 

irly b take 

name is 

hut uc ihall confine 

a score S<» be fairljf repre- 

sentative of all that mi ight 



NATURAL BADNESS 



Boys are by nature slovens. If you 
are inclined to deny the charge, be- 
fore committing yourself, please remem- 
ber that ordinarily we do not see the 
boy until after his mother has had many 
a hard-fought and dearly-won battle 
with him over the soap-and-water, tooth- 
brush, clothes-brush, hair-brush, and a 
host of similar issues. We must not 
credit to the boy's nature these hard- 
won victories of his mother which have 
made him the presentable lad he is. If 
we guard ourselves against this fallacy, 
I think we shall have to admit that by 
nature we were slovens, and no boy ever 
was or ever will be born anything else. 

Yet there is a good element even in 
the boy's slovenliness. The dirt itself 
isn't bad. And the readiness to get dirty 
indicates a hearty, hardy disposition to 
come to close quarters with things. In 
many vocations a man must get dirty, 
and the boy who isn't afraid to soil his 
hands and tear his clothes will make 
much more of a man than the boy who 

17 



//// Ql EST OF I III Bl W 

p alw 

in 
Where th * I 

[t < the 

• ■ 
dit ■. n iell 

imunity mdi otl 

terms wh i if 

illy 
I happily in 

glutti 
than them; ind 

:v in their manner 

Th ire then 

think ire what 

I themsc i what 

and make themsel 

r then 
all who have an\ t ; 

Vet tl ;lut- 

weak 
^hr • man- 

LineM and u-etulncst. 



NATURAL BADNESS 



Wherein then does his badness con- 
sist? In that he does not seek what will 
serve him to-morrow as well as what 
tastes and feels good to-day; in that he 
does not think of serving others as well 
as himself; in that he would reduce 
human society to an intolerable pigsty, 
and make it impossible to live together 
helpfully and happily. 

While it would be going too far to 
say that boys are by nature drunkards, 
yet there are in every boy strong natural 
tendencies in that direction. In reply to 
the invitations, "Have a drink?" "Have 
a smoke?" it is much more natural to 
say "Yes" than "No"; and as a result 
most boys sample the wares of bar and 
counter, in the endeavor to discover what 
secret of good-fellowship, what formula 
of sociability sparkles in a glass of beer, 
or curls hidden in a ring of smoke. 

Once sampled out of acquiescence or 
curiosity, these things offer genuine sat- 
isfactions which set up a craving for 
frequent repetition. Beer is exhilarat- 

19 



//// Qi / w of in; r 

ire tranquilliz mil 

• • 
•i at fii 
tlu- loludoa of the 

s fell 

I I s nun, in many 

r the- men banl 
men with whom he 

the hen he 

: tired, Besom iocs 

m what him* 

ip w\. thef 

fell drinking and mok 

natural for b want 

drink and in \ 

I ' 
ihfulness, c ui 

im • 

:i\ that for the time | the 

. who drinks and HO illy 

•l much with b jpi who 

have tlun- habits, will be w m- 

tablc, n : . m«»re p 

I with fa 
20 



NATURAL BADNESS 



in harmony with his immediate environ- 
ment, if he falls in with the habits of 
those about him, takes an occasional 
drink, and acquires the habit of smok- 
ing. In short, there are perfectly nat- 
ural reasons why a boy wants to do these 
things. For an insignificant price one 
can buy more physical exhilaration, per- 
sonal self-satisfaction, and social adjust- 
ment, with a glass of beer or a box of 
cigarettes, than in any other way. If 
that were the whole story any boy would 
be a fool who didn't spend some of his 
nickels and dimes in that way. 

Why then, are not smoking and drink- 
ing good for a boy? Because no matter 
how good a thing may be in itself, or 
even in some of its immediate effects, 
nothing is morally good unless in all its 
effects, immediate and remote, it is Best 
for all concerned. Match the goods 
gained with the goods lost — temporary 
exhilaration against permanent debility, 
the fleeting friendships made over a 
wineglass with the enduring affection 

21 



Till QUI P //// 

hil- 

•!i fun 
menu! cfl rvc 

w ith i learoeti 
weaki ith i 

red 
th health 
I iiniju 
tnd di 

thrive! intD II 

en- 

: goods which thi take 

.. and itakabl 

him, an m wh 

I up with h 

be ther in the drinking i 

or the inhal md 

exhalai 

The who d 
bad lusc the th:n^ them- 

i he does 
then late t! * thai 

ind plan to 



NATURAL BADNESS 



! Boys by nature take to fooling and 
monkey-shines as naturally as ducks to 
water. They tend to run off on tangents 
from whatever mental or physical tasks 
they are set to do. Mischief is born in 
them, and will come out. From the 
point of view of the serious man of 
business, they are in this respect as bad 
as possible. 

Nature has a good purpose in all this. 
She is developing otherwise unused and 
undeveloped traits ; adventure, humor, 
imagination, which it is not well for any 
boy to be without. 

Their badness lies in the neglect of 
the boy's own welfare which these tan- 
gential interests entail ; the inconsiderate- 
ness for others on whom his pranks are 
played; and his lack of recognition of 
those serious interests which are the firm 
foundation on which our common civili- 
zation rests. 

Boys are by nature lazy. They are 
disinclined to force either mind or body 
for a long time to a single task. Yet 

23 



//// 

cha lives i 

ful In ihirfc 

■ 

[| i w ah .1 kind and motbei 
tent that Nature put eak 

II her • I 

I better when the] 

mental e\ :\ that 

ed he: with tl 

thick armoi 9I hi< h rank and 

■ : 

find I Km 

hai well 

ibl th.it p leal 

idle 

then lie- t : 
I ' ill that we en 

inent. . «| miM 

It, H C 



NATURAL BADNESS 



shift our burden to some one else, who 
must bear it in addition to his own. It 
is mean — this eating food others have 
raised, cooked, and served: this wearing 
clothes others have woven, cut, sewed 
and washed; this lying in a bed others 
have made for us; unless to the extent 
of our ability we do something costly 
and valuable for them in return. Any 
boy, whether born rich or poor, who 
contrives or is permitted to get along 
without doing his share of hard work 
both physical and mental, becomes an 
ungrateful and incompetent dependent 
on his parents, and a burden to society. 

That is why laziness is shameful; be- 
cause at heart the lazy boy is a beggar 
and a thief : and that equally whether he 
pays the penalty in hunger and rags, as 
he must if he is poor; or whether he 
escapes the outward and visible penal- 
ties, as he may if fortune has thrown 
over him the cloak of inherited wealth. 

Boys are by nature spendthrifts. 
Things to eat, drink, wear, and play 

25 



/ r 

look so 
mm h ttei than the dull 

If hill, 

i«l then • v U 

■t it. To the average 

oo the merry-go-round! five 

ice- 
Lefi to himself the boy 

in perpetual bankrupt 

Thk t It indi- 

Ithy preferen the ^ 

rather than die ; for the 

immediate rather than the re: 
the <>pen rather than the >eereti\ 
the rather than the 

\ ncy 

aid be in -me 

ngy mi 

• 
ise the toil hv which his ; 
: the a i future, the 

the - to 

which he be a bur/. 

I in his expenditure. 



NATURAL BADNESS 



He sacrifices these vastly greater inter- 
ests to his own momentary gratification. 
His spending is not an act of careful con- 
sideration of its ultimate effect on self, 
on others and on all. 

Boys are by nature cowards. To be 
sure by the time we see much of them 
they have been shamed out of it by 
the rough and tumble fights of the pri- 
mary school. But the root of coward- 
ice, the disposition to save one's own 
skin at cost of greater injury to oneself 
later, to others, and to all, is planted deep 
in boy nature. 

This, too, is a beneficent provision of 
Nature. It is her instinct of self- 
preservation, without which her chil- 
dren would come to all sorts of disaster. 
Until the boy is old enough to judge 
wisely what risks to take and what to 
turn down, timidity is a valuable life- 
insurance policy. 

Yet of course cowardice is one of the 
most detestable of vices. His permanent 
self, his friends, the community to which 

27 



//// F I HI HI sr 

he e all the 

i the 

the present 

Tin j nature .1 liar 1 1 m anti 

ipe a punishment 

the 

n l>\ I 
Tin 

!v things, v 
itinatel u path, that it 

• 

III intc \ their 

make new fact 
\\h and put them in tfa 

I hen m n an . 

and 

: tO tl 

tent mbellish them In t >u< ha 

I he ; 
and all the primitive 

and Odysv 



NATURAL BADNESS 



were adepts at this art. When we hear 
of a boy who never told a lie we ascribe 
the trait to myth or legend. For a boy 
who never had indulged the disposition 
to color statements in his own favor 
would be a very stupid and uninteresting 
boy, and would grow into a very dull 
and unimaginative man. 

Nevertheless lying is thoroughly bad. 
It strikes a deadly blow at that confi- 
dence of men in each other on which 
the whole fabric of society rests. It 
cuts off our communications. It pulls up 
a plank in the bridge over which we all 
must walk. If lying were the rule there 
would be no use in lying; for no one 
would believe a word that anybody said. 
A lie is a mean exception in our own 
favor to a rule which we expect every- 
body else to keep. It insults the per- 
son to whom we tell it; for it does not 
treat him as worthy of sharing with us 
the truth. 

The liar not only destroys the con- 
fidence of others in him, but forfeits his 

29 



I ill Ql EST 01 in 

I .tiler 

ditioo \n hen h truth 

temenl i i lot m 

tod in ■ tore 

a | the unreal : 

gel em 
in i mesh of in< rhtu the 

liar and even 

lent N 
im; litll 

thrilling tale in whi 

he ihtU COl and • blc 

• 

natural ttlil I . the 

hen a 

. hoosehold 

the i he mak 

the nc the 

It make- lift whether 

;unent ii thai of the itreel or the 

there apple men hant 

the 



NATURAL BADNESS 



family larder. The average boy is seen 
in the answer of the little fellow, who 
to his mother's remonstrance: "Johnnie, 
when I went out there were six dough- 
nuts in the jar, and when I came in there 
was only one; how do you account for 
that?" replied, "I must have overlooked 
that one." The boy who never stole 
never had a chance to steal. 

There is no occasion to be unduly 
alarmed by these thievish proclivities. 
Never to have taken anything that did 
not belong to him would argue a very 
defective sense of the value of things in 
use. The mother's doughnuts or the 
neighbor's peaches are valueless unless 
some one eats them; and mindful of his 
own appetite, the boy proceeds to be 
that some one. 

Pardonable as this tendency to appro- 
priate what does not belong to him is 
in a boy, it of course must be corrected 
if property is to be secure, if society 
above the level of the savage is to be 
maintained, and if the boy himself is to 

31 



//// 

I i motl be 
in. i thai I) tantaliz 

he 

lie in the unimli/' 
ihi| t ii ultima! 

in Ins interetl ai • thai be 

who pi iiu CI an I 
other, thai! partake and i 

by nature- I I . 

their animal and remote human an 
thej put «»it ant 

what ' t<> I 

Pun< tualitj apletely Left out 

the younj 

The pie 
nstnuK 

I iter 

fh e minutes m 

In the 
r itfa ridicule 
an] 

ttendai term i 

I ;cs hi. 

:t the Fresh- 



NATURAL BADNESS 






man and Sophomore from returning late 
after vacation. This lack of punctuality 
is deeply ingrained in boys. They will 
continue to stay after school as long as 
schools and boys exist. 

Nor is this failing altogether bad. 
In choosing the warm and vivid pres- 
ent in preference to a future that to 
him seems cold and pale, the boy is 
manifesting what would be good judg- 
ment, if the present, and the present for 
him alone, were the whole of life. This 
lack of punctuality springs not from a 
deliberate purpose to be late, and to sub- 
ject others to inconvenience, but from 
the fund of freedom and spirit there is 
in him. In training him to be prompt, 
we who are not always on time ourselves, 
must be careful not to crush, but to guide 
and transform into the ally of punc- 
tuality, this fund of freedom, this affinity 
for the warm and vivid, which is the 
real motive for that habitual tardiness, 
which unless controlled and corrected 
will prove a great inconvenience to. him- 

33 



77// Q I /// /:/ W 

rll .in ID in; . mcfl 

i ill with lit. 

I {• • \ s a r e I I 

\ca\ t thingi and w I il if 

Irop them Thej lei 
; track in dirt; md make a 

m !i. 

I 
JQStii N ttl therlv in- 

tent. It ii the inttint 
the lal tving < : applied in too 

Inesa liei where all bi 
— in tin* . : : the permanent i 

i all. I 
clutter, pile up 
the trouble that the] itvc ; ami the 

will in 

! later, || .at the 

b< 1 

. s are Tin 

their animal and hatha: u> ai 

the\ have n i ihrinkii m tilth ; ami 

roll it as a tweet I their 

be boy take- naturally to bad 



NATURAL BADNESS 



words, coarse speech, and conversation 
on subjects not mentioned in good 
society. 

There is something to be said even in 
favor of this low streak. It indicates a 
frank recognition of facts, whatever their 
nature, which is better than a squeamish 
and fastidious hypocrisy. To come to 
close quarters with filth and nastiness 
until discipline and cultivation show 
him something better, is a mark of the 
boy's genuineness and reality. 

Of course the sooner this something 
better is brought home to him, the 
happier it will be for him and for all 
concerned. Vulgarity is odious, just be- 
cause it disregards the decencies on 
which dignified home life and refined 
human intercourse depend. Vulgarity 
is an insult to all in whose presence it 
is uttered or acted. It is a clear case 
of that satisfaction in the less and lower, 
which is the essence of badness. 

Boys are by nature awkward, self-con- 
scious, rude in the presence of strangers; 

35 



) 



' EST I / w 

:; > out of th( 

make othen him oml 
c. Phe delicti 

■.huh have I 

• human into ■ as 

■ 

entrant ■ hall 

: que 

^ A | | 

.it the cliniic 

hal in the house, an I in general 
takei the nplish- 

menl ol his d< 

the mci 
nuinent ugh an 

ity, underneath tfa 
■ 

III 
old be little pi 

the 
it truth to itrai I 

boyhood is dm 
ndepei .kness. 



NATURAL BADNESS 



The sturdy fellow whose good will must 
be won before it is bestowed may not 
be a little gentleman yet; but he will 
make a much stronger, braver, truer 
man than the boy who accepts and prac- 
tices all the drawing-room proprieties 
before he understands their meaning and 
appreciates their worth. 

For of course they have a very pre- 
cious worth and meaning. They are the 
essential conditions of mutual good will 
between persons who meet only oc- 
casionally; and boorishness and bad 
manners destroy and defeat happy hu- 
man intercourse. Bad manners are the 
mark of a narrow, self-centered heart. 

Boys are by nature contentious. They 
glory in a fight. They hurt and get hurt 
in the process. Such fighting is un- 
questionably bad. 

Yet it has its redeeming features. It 
shows that the boy is willing to stand up 
and pay the price of his desires, his 
honor, or whatever at the moment he 
represents. As Mr. J. Adams Puffer 

37 ' 



//// Ql EST i ST 

book on u l ; nd the 

.[ u( (he w « ini.li; 

the good 
and-tumblc fight : 4< SI 

n\, md ihc ipathet the 

What the 

w hen the hlood 

1 the i 

the 
t m.ml\ pride in I ; un- 

iihmenl ind 

. -tarn! and 
p M>m< 

1 manl 

Still, from the ultimate poilll <>f \ 

m teacher I - ; I 

j pretexts, without iuffi< 

the lindoil nmun 

I nan w \ i ntentiotu bo} who 

pc 

I 
w ' I when ( 

with ther II II bel 

their comma 

38 



NATURAL BADNESS 



ing the laws. They will even "give 
away" their fathers and mothers to 
chance acquaintances. Recently a boy 
whose acquaintance I made on a walk 
through the woods confided to me within 
the first half hour that his father was 
"contrary as a mule"; and added the 
further information that he was "onto 
him"; for he explained, "when I want 
to do anything, I pretend that I don't, 
and he urges me to do it: and when I 
don't want to do anything, I make be- 
lieve that I do, and he forbids it." 

Nevertheless there was something very 
winning about the frankness with which 
this little grammar-school traitor took 
me into a portion of his confidence 
which it would have been more discreet 
and loyal to have kept closed. It is not 
a desire to be treacherous, of which at 
the time they are scarcely aware, but the 
eagerness to enter the new relation of 
confidence and friendliness, that leads 
them astray. This particular youngster 
in the end will make a more loyal and 

39 



//// /;/ s/' 

■ 
mc in ili 

I 

■ 

n 

k what the | uh.it they 

miu h a than 

ul 

We are all 
mu imperl 

B1C ncv. 

n than w r the h 

in whi the 

lati ad th 

i rar- 
frcth 
SVhai that he : ^ i 

lurp riling 

40 



NATURAL BADNESS 



J0> 



Yet conceit, vanity, pride are bad. If 
they mark some slight past achievement 
they are a damper on future success. 
He who is puffed up over his past, can- 
not at the same time be full of resolute 
endeavor for the future; and he who 
is preoccupied with his own affairs can- 
not be keenly sensitive to the needs and 
claims of his fellows. Conceit is pub- 
lic proclamation that one has no high 
ambition for self, nor intense devotion to 
others. 

Boys are by nature licentious. Through 
curiosity, and perverse suggestion, long 
before the normal development of the 
sexual instinct, sex becomes a topic of 
imagination, thought, speech, and in too 
many cases perverted action. And it is 
the low, coarse, sensual aspect of sex 
that catches and holds the boy's imagi- 
nation. The boy was never reared to 
manhood who has not indulged in bad 
thoughts, words or deeds growing out 
of his sexual instinct or curiosity about 
it. 

41 



Nature in all this 

\\ itfa m implant- 

• in the individual tn intense md pas- 

nate impu rtprodoi I 

the ra< in the 

famine In 
:. and in th 
i ing, the md detei 

modern 

lid have heel) impossible. 
The boy who d I think and feel 

tensely, who wi I inclii speak 

; brutally, wou\ mething less 

than a natural boy, an dd make 

the normal man. 

all the indii I erroi 

\\\ naturally fall, .ire m 

tiable than tl 

\ ature foi her 

.\ertul 

t 

Yet on individual health, 

I the health :i the l«Mth- 

i carriei in j in 

the : 



NATURAL BADNESS 



) 



source; in its degradation of woman, 
and its doom of shame and early death 
to multitudes of poor, unfortunate girls; 
in its betrayal of innocence; in its aliena- 
tion of affection; in its disruption of 
families; in its demoralization of the 
life of the community, sexual vice is be- 
yond all other vices mean, cruel, shame- 
ful, corrupting; degrading to the indi- 
vidual, and destructive of healthy, happy 
domestic and social life. 

Boys are by nature vindictive. They 
seek to get even with their enemies, and 
pay back in their own coin those who 
do them wrong. 

This delight in vengeance, this instinct 
of retribution, has served a good purpose 
in the rude society of primitive man; and 
in the hands of boys to-day metes out a 
rough-and-ready justice which is better 
far than a weak acceptance of being run 
over, or a tame acquiescence in unpro- 
tested and unpunished wrong. 

Yet vengeance harbored, the grudge 
cherished, leads to perpetual feud; hard- 

43 



//// BEST 

the I tlienati 

make 

mm I 

M itfa | ' 1 In 

in ten thousand 

ted h . i 

nunitt tdy in 

plant-, 

nd tin 

: ry, 
unkindnt 
Does th< it who ei un- 

kind <>r thou n ho 

unkindn 
upon the beni and break 
th( «c m h 

tfulnei old 

Mm lei in tin 

md while- empl 
men, husban adul- 

and guilt] p 
the death m if | 

44 



NATURAL BADNESS 



and indirectly, yet prematurely and need- 
lessly, by ungrateful, inconsiderate boys 
run into the tens of thousands every year. 

Even here, however, a plea for mercy 
is admissible. Nature at the start re- 
quires all or nearly all of a boy's imagi- 
nation and reflection for the conduct of 
his own affairs; and he grows up into a 
stronger man by this concentration on 
his own immediate concerns. A boy 
who began by always stopping to think 
whether his words and deeds might not 
grieve others, would be left far behind 
in Nature's race toward sturdy manhood. 

Still murder, whatever form it take, 
whether by man or boy, whether in mine 
or factory or store or home, is murder. 
And murder is the extreme form of bad- 
ness. 

To gather these specific charges to- 
gether into one common accusation, boys 
are by nature selfish. The boy looks out 
for number one. He will save his own 
skin, no matter at what cruel cost to 
others. 

45 



THE QUI W OF 1 III /;/ ST 

tboul i b 
lid egoism, would 
:iv, sentimental 

the 

than the actual qu 

tempi; up ini mi- 

; i and manln 

ture, or rather ( rod w itcs throu 

r than we ihould h 
been, in the normal 

I with 
uh rt 

hard c -re mUSl Iiedi 

mutl be hi r per- 

tual egoism, ihness, 

til thingi lerable in the indi- 

I l indictment 

I have iin 

neral i 
• 
ciju These, h wever, arc 



NATURAL BADNESS 



sufficient to sustain and illustrate the 
general charge. Boys are by nature 
slovenly, gluttonous, intemperate, mis- 
chievous, lazy, extravagant, cowardly, 
dishonest, untruthful, dilatory, disor- 
derly, vulgar, ill-mannered, contentious, 
treacherous, conceited, licentious, vin- 
dictive, murderous, selfish. 

Under each specification of the gen- 
eral charge I have at the same time 
entered a plea for mercy. I have tried 
to show that there is a good element 
seeking expression underneath each of 
these bad traits. I have tried to show 
that as parents, teachers, friends, we 
should forgive the boy all these faults, 
and in spite of them cherish high hopes 
of his manliness and usefulness. 

Nevertheless, while pardonable and 
full of promise in the boy, these vices 
are thoroughly bad, and must be cor- 
rected before he can become the honor- 
able and useful man he is meant to be, 
and we would help him to become. The 
ineffectual and the effectual ways of 

47 



//// //// /;/ SI 

the boy out of th 
nto the 
goodness, mil be the I I the foil 

( htpb 






II 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS THE REPRESSION OF 
BADNESS 

IF there is an element of goodness in 
the natural badness of boys, it is 
equally true that there is an element 
of badness in the artificial goodness we 
impose upon them by constraint. Con- 
straint has many forms, from corporal 
punishment, p rivation, imp risonment, 
fines, up to scolding, reproof, and criti- 
cism. Whatever good act a boy performs 
for the sake of avoiding some penalty or 
gaining some reward extraneous to the 
thing done, and the specific situation in 
which it is done, is artificial. All such 
artificial goodness is strained, insecure, 
unreal, and likely to break down when 
the constraint that holds it up is re- 
moved. 

This element of badness in artificial 
49 



THE Ql / w 01 I in Bl ST 
gooiifi a noi wholl mn it 

1 goodneM II a 
which ill mutl g I the 

[ the rod in urative lei 

I and mental 
• 
\ d goodnt 

and maim 

natural badoeti intent on tome imme- 
diate 

Neith< t intent 00 the 

It II intent 00 the 

rem at 

m citl: :!ie Otl 

i between them. Like 

measurei it lac k 

uineiu lity, \ ital ::!;tv. The 

lew; the boj w ho rem 

"iiiw aid appearai 
1 in it tlf, 

ham. then and 

50 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

ciety; inwardly it is more deadly to self, 
and, owing to the danger that they will ac- 
cept it as genuine and rely upon it, more 
disastrous to others and to society. A 
boy who is genuinely and naturally bad 
is in a way to get the badness knocked 
out of him; and others and society are 
not likely to be betrayed by him, be- 
cause they are not likely to trust him. 
But the boy who is artificially good, 
made to be good by fear or favor, is 
likely to go to pieces under the first 
sudden and serious strain that real life 
puts upon him. Then, when he breaks 
down, he carries with him to wreck and 
ruin all who have misplaced their confi- 
dence in him. 

The defect in this stage of discipline 
will be readily seen in terms of the score 
of relations previously considered. 

The natural slovenliness of the boy 
may be outwardly and apparently cured 
by sending him away from the table, by 
banishing him from the room until he 
makes himself presentable, by appealing 

51 



THE Ql I 51 OP i ill BJ w 

hame, 

nd pen In thai 

u.iv the the h 

keeping c lean, tod come 
pei h m mu< \\ better h I ind 

lean than All 

vcr 

Vc ; of virile, 

Ik- keep! ^ lean I n m i tint 

in an] ■ these forms. Win in 

camp, it <»f the sight of those in 

him, he will re! into 

the he hai been 

med m :it. 

w • 11, even if he a< qoirei the 

hal 

law in it. Thinking <>f cleanlin 

pi 
1 what other 

(rill think of h 
he ' 

inate unwill hen 

i what the game he is 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

playing or the work he is doing calls 
for. The pitiful fop who does not care 
for any game which cannot be played 
in white flannel trousers, who is afraid 
to put on overalls and jumper and get 
down into the grime and grease which 
are part of some of the world's most 
useful and honorable work, is even 
farther removed than the sloven from 
manly cleanliness. 

Gluttony can be cured outwardly by 
physical and social constraint. But the 
hankering for the fleshpots of Egypt will 
remain ready to break out into an orgy 
when the pressure is withdrawn; and 
even if outwardly successful, the result 
of fixing too much attention on what we 
eat or what we do not eat, is a squeamish 
and anxious abstemiousness which de- 
stroys the natural and wholesome pleasure 
of eating, and induces a sour and unso- 
ciable habit of mind, which, if persisted 
in, appropriately expresses itself as dys- 
pepsia. Not through constraint, or re- 
gard for social appearances can we gain 

53 



THl Ql I i III. i 

thai m I m c 

It is the lame w ith drink Prohibi- 
.. w hcthei lual 

IgC, | .1 a ut! 

the 

temptation, and dclaj t the I 

mai an- 

tl 

lipplv tl: 

inti 

whu h. m<»re than the dl 

tnd men intt) the habit. Merely 

from a 

him from th 

•her 

an ad he will 

: to fill by tl :er, 

it elf- 

tter than od j I and OH 

m things wl. 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

they apparently enjoy. Prohibition has 
its place as a stage toward temperance; 
but it is a small and temporary place. 
The boy who stops there will never know 
the meaning and glory of real temper- 
ance, or be immune against intemper- 
ance later. 

A boy's craving for amusement can 
be repressed. Of course, when thus 
driven in by the frowns or blows of 
parents, or the rules and regulations of 
churches, nobody is foolish enough to 
suppose that the love of dancing, card- 
playing, theater-going, pool-playing, are 
thereby banished from the boy's mind 
and heart. He loves them all the more, 
the more he hates the stupid persons who 
attempt to take them from him; and he 
indulges these pleasures, and others not 
by any means so innocent, in the secret 
chambers of his imagination. A boy 
from whom the natural pleasures and 
social diversions are withheld, is a steam 
engine with a heavy weight on the 
safety-valve. Disastrous explosion can- 

55 



1 
uld 

■• 
thing!, wc 
I make 

than 
. 
whom w io the 

in in- 

iai 
• 

mill i 
where the i machii 

trp ni] 

• 

Mil pi he a 

rut in the il wheel 

It te: the mere 

hustler, the 

• '. 

\\l p wheth 

m. :t the m 

rn industrialism hi I 

56 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

moderate amount of diversified work is 
good for a boy, and he cannot make 
the best kind of man without being 
trained to do it; but prolonged monoto- 
nous work enforced on the young boy 
stunts the body, dulls the mind, and 
deadens the soul. 

Extravagance can be stopped by cut- 
ting off a boy's money. He cannot spend 
what he does not have. If he has money 
he is sure to spend it foolishly. By ridi- 
culing the folly of it, we can prevent 
him to some extent from being quite so 
foolish the next time. 

Yet stopping extravagance in either of 
these ways does not cure it; or else if it 
does cure, it induces something worse 
in its place. The less he can buy, the 
more he will covet; and covetousness is 
simply extravagance stored up, ready to 
break out not merely in extravagance 
when money comes, but in stealing if it 
doesn't come. Furthermore, if either 
through poverty, ridicule, or prolonged 
privation the boy loses his natural love 

57 



THl III t 

a 
than i then ! 

s a 

. mak 

I at 
; . than he 
' 'he thing! th 

in the tir>t pla< Thii 

• - inw | II then i 

masqu in the form 

•tul pi thai 

r that 

a proclam whit h at the 

thai he 1 of 

e the d ra ard thai be 
r bully i 

ve oth( 
The tellin be pre I by 

incnt. ntcnipt. and 

unc these anil otl 
induce in the |iai Bui a I 
in these r eal 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

truth-telling. For truth-telling thinks of 
the rights of others and of society to 
the truth; not of what I shall suffer in 
the esteem of my fellows, or in other 
ways, if I fail to tell the truth. Truth 
is a relation between persons; while this 
merely formal statement of facts for fear 
of being called a liar, is merely a rela- 
tion between myself as desiring to tell 
an untruth, and myself as desiring still 
more not to be punished for it. Such 
formalism seldom tells the whole truth, 
in all its subtle shades of meaning; and 
it often tells the literal truth under cir- 
cumstances where, as in the case of deal- 
ing with an insane man, or a man of 
criminal intent, the spirit of truthfulness 
— the spirit of genuine and generous re- 
lationship with others, the criminal's or 
the insane man's intended victims, for 
instance, would require the withholding 
of the literal facts for which he asks, but 
by reason of his mental or moral abnor- 
mality, he has no right to receive. For- 
mal and literal statement of fact under 

59 



vm 

even ' 

ich 
mal truth ipeaking, ii i meani 

truthfulness 

the 

um thai atta< ha to the name of th 

m againtl it 
ing tl punishment 

kepi from M • bj th traints, 

: make np i * belie thai 

: title to thingi wh 
be! i parents, on 

in wl: 

he ; When he be* OOMI ■ man 

he litical 

tllltt, tl I make ; 

profitable 
I n our compl 

pportunitiei 

what I : 

through 

otfau mthoul violating the 

60 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

letter of any law, that mere legal honesty 
is no honesty at all. Whoever otherwise 
than by open and avowed gift gets some- 
thing for nothing, something for him- 
self at the expense of somebody else who 
does not freely consent, is a thief. Who- 
ever uses other persons' money, or the 
time of his employer, or funds allowed 
for expenses, otherwise than as strictly in 
those other persons' interest, as if they 
were his own, is a robber. To be an 
employee, or an agent, or a trustee, or a 
secretary, and not be a thief and a rob- 
ber, in other words not mix personal and 
official interests to the advantage of the 
former at the expense of the latter, is 
a very difficult, and I fear rather rare 
achievement; certainly beyond the reach 
of the mere observance of the law against 
overt acts of theft, through fear of de- 
tection and punishment. 

We cannot call a boy honest who re- 
frains from taking what does not belong 
to him merely through fear of disgrace 
or punishment. I was once walking 

61 



//// QUI : I III HI ST 

1.1 thi 
He | th.it . 

I rcpl 
th.it tl ngc i to 

M I 

I Ih 

I n ' 
he | m I [e ^ an f i tell 

Inwardly th< 

let- the ap; 

ne through * hi ami 

I pur. 

; the 

^till 
tlu id that tlif- 

make it important 

it the habit 

the • 

I ; 
■ 

make I 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

esty in each, we must be content to 
make him respectable and endurable by 
constraint, in anticipation of the time 
when the habit of outward honesty ac- 
quired through fear, shall be reinforced 
and confirmed by the conviction of his 
mind and the dictates of his heart. 

Fear of punishment will undoubtedly 
induce in the average boy a certain 
amount of punctuality. As a youngster 
he will answer promptly the commands 
of his mother because he fears the ter- 
rors of the dark closet. He values his 
afternoon's ball-playing too highly to 
run the risk of being kept after school 
for tardiness; and accordingly will re- 
spond to the last gong quickly if reluc- 
tantly. As a young man in his first 
business position fear of discharge will 
bring him to the office every morning 
on time. 

There is, however a fatal defect in 
such punctuality as is born and bred of 
fear and punishment. The boy who has 
had such artificial promptness thrust 

63 



//// 57 

ii him nniII t)C fouml as a n 

• 

w hen he ^ an i! i, or i 

making himself an intolerable nu 

ltd hj a narrow punctili- 

. c mosi 
at G ■ mpt 

\\ here w< >uld 

unish them 

\ : :: the SCll 

l\. but "ii the ball field. In ui 
lishmenf foi this poi 
musi make it i that 

oui i not hia incom 

int, but a I). .1 condition which 

th h reatesl 

happiness and usefulness in the long run, 

nveniei all 

who haw • i him. nol only in 

b t all t: 

1 1 lei can be outwardly corn 

me m the orderli- 

ness that l< k into a 

when the constraint that I 
i ithdrawn. And it the m 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

habit of orderliness is successfully in- 
duced as the result of perpetual nagging, 
it is apt to develop into an extreme fussi- 
ness which is even more uncomfortable 
to live with than downright disorderli- 
ness. 

Vulgarity can, and at the outset must, 
be squelched by inflicting pain and 
shame. The home circle, decent society, 
the playground must be protected; and 
no methods are too severe to keep in- 
decency suppressed. 

Yet vulgarity driven in, and bottled 
up, falls very far short of real refine- 
ment. Secret groups or gangs will be 
recruited for its indulgence. And the 
demure behavior and choice conversa- 
tion in the presence of his elders will be 
the merest affectation. Pain and shame 
are necessary, and good in their place; 
but they cannot drive real refinement 
into the boy. 

We cannot by threats and punishments 
make the ill-mannered boy a gentleman. 
However outwardly correct in speech 

65 



THE Ql I 

u li means, hii man n ill 

ih hea 

I t each a I 
the- pi un- 

it ti 
pea h an n which will 

It makei him 

|ttal t<> wh.Ucw 

he maj eni 
The innei 

• man he mc, 

• if the a< t mpted b) n 

than U 

If well in tin 

iuch an 

: . if the 

turn ind 

thei would disappear I I 

th the ai 
the chivalrooi ipiril which l 

ltd express The Itolatil 
66 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

tendencies of our great modern cities, 
due to the absence of the community or 
neighborhood spirit, and the tendency 
of city life to strip a young man of all 
that is not firmly and securely his, make 
it necessary for him to have something 
more than this veneer of politeness, if 
he is to maintain genuine and kindly re- 
lations with his fellowmen. He must 
have the spirit from which manners 
spring, he must feel the chivalry, the 
humility, the unselfishness of which good 
manners are the expression, if he is to 
be kind not only to the esteemed friend, 
but to the immigrant apple woman on 
the busy street. That is why admonition 
and punishment, necessary as they are, 
and good as far as they go, fall so far 
short of giving the boy the manners of 
the gentleman. 

A boy to some extent can be kept out 
of fights. He can be made to let other 
fellows bully him, and run over him. 
But that weak concession of everything 
to everybody is very far from the ideal. 

67 



im 01 ESI 

truth in the i 
turc injuncti turn the other cheek 

milei m tli 

iuld nuk but 

they cann t be ipplu iminately 

D all ^ ircum s wit! 

lh.it is fn v. than letting then 
ut. 

I hery, the d Imu k 

hen he 
father or mother or brother 

the O 

inity interetl by breaking the 1 

whuh arc the litioni mmOO 

wt\ cteni ^\n be 

eaten tui the 

d fall 

ihotl of thai ty wh 

makei the intei ftmily f 

•v and country .b pi > as 

pi • l nd mi; neni h 

tlu e, hut thej cannot manufacture 

l The met! .vcnile 

i the w ISC p* 
68 

\ 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

far more successful in dealing with de- 
linquent boys. 

Conceit may be taken out of a boy by 
good-natured banter and ridicule. A 
little prick of humor will burst a large 
bubble of conceit. No one is fit to be 
parent, teacher, or worker in any ca- 
pacity with boys, who lacks this gift and 
grace of humor. For a laugh at his ex- 
pense, in which he himself can't help 
joining, is the quickest and surest cure 
for conceit, pride, vanity, and all the 
other forms of bumptiousness of which 
boys are naturally so full. 

Still, driving conceit out is not quite 
equivalent to bringing humility in. Re- 
pressed conceit is conceited still, and will 
devise subtler forms of expression more 
difficult for ridicule to reach. 

Overt acts of licentiousness can be pre- 
vented to some extent by making boys 
realize the terrible penalties which fol- 
low the contraction of the two diseases, 
one or the other of which protracted in- 
dulgence in promiscuous sexual inter- 

69 



I 111 Ql I s/ OF I III /;/ ST 
to involve 

ICV( 

• • 
ghtened i n the : 

tUte, he ni.i\ turn | 

suggestion 
find . r in d 

ima mi wl its or 

Natu 
them. I lent e, w hile ■ !. pbj 

:l and a 
old Ik- taught plainly, an {hi 

tent and tactful pt 
and much evil may !>c prevent* 
iu< h tea< hing, law an : ilty will • 

loflG and maintain i cfa 

alroui pi ibl 

I be vin get ev< 

ho injure him, and t 

; d be 

i in <, ha k bj authority and penall 
and tlic hal rig co 

n ma] ; 

ample. All thi 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

falls far short of genuine forgiveness. 

The slow murdering of parents and 
relatives and friends which an ugly boy 
commits day after day by unkind words, 
cross looks, and cruel deeds, can for the 
time being be taken out of him by sound 
thrashing. But if this treatment takes 
out the murderous acts, it drives in and 
confirms the murderous disposition. The 
boy who has been beaten into subserv- 
ience remains at heart ugly and mur- 
derous still, and will manifest it to his 
parents when he and they are older, and 
to his own wife and children if any 
woman is so unfortunate as to marry 
him. An ugly, murderous boy deserves 
and should receive severe punishment, 
as a temporary protection to others, and 
as a means of showing how his ugliness 
to others feels when it is applied to him- 
self. But no such boy was ever driven 
by these means alone into a genuine and 
generous devotion to others. 

In our study of natural badness in the 
boy we found that the one word which 

71 



i in nuEs: i in 

l 
• d 
ha( he ii 

rigs 
he H I 10 intent 

te go himself! thai Ik- cither 

he 

ad pei 

iter 

ennanem 

[fishnet 

:t not 
rm- 

thc inter the 

Q wel: 
th the 

ver, 
in all 

r othi 
member 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

and a brother of his fellowmen, of which 
we are in Quest. 

If now, as in the former chapter on 
natural badness, we put all these forms 
of artificial goodness together, we shall 
see that even if we were to succeed in 
this attempted constraint — as of course 
we can only very imperfectly — even if 
we were to succeed, we should not get a 
very admirable boy as the result. 

Look at him as once more he passes 
rapidly in review. He is too fastidious to 
get down into the dirt when rough work 
or play requires ; abstemious to the point 
of oddity and dyspepsia, with a secret 
hankering, which he dares not gratify, for 
tobacco and strong drink; a little old man 
who has never learned how to lose himself 
entirely in a game, and have a thoroughly 
good time; a restless hustler without 
poise or repose; stingy from fear of 
spending foolishly; vainly trying to con- 
ceal an unexterminated cowardice under 
a boastful bravado; giving false or unde- 
sirable impressions under the form of 

73 



//// Ql I I 5T 

itai vrhafl 

docs n 

the tl I ways 

t th.it the l.r. 
; pun 

• little • 

• • t of the 1 
inti 

■ 

eld- 
• 
g in oti 

• .ut ret! humil 

than i injui 

njurcr; rob- 
rather d 

die requirement! of othei 
thef than : • himself 

ike 

whicl 

The 

than the f 
w nd itui 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

child of Nature, with his frank and 
virile badness; for that had a genuine 
and promising element of goodness la- 
tent within. But this artificial goodness 
into which a boy is scolded and shamed 
and whipped and bound, carries within 
it, and not so well concealed either, an 
element of weakness, effeminacy, slavish- 
ness, and unreality. 

In spite, however, of the hollowness 
and emptiness of this artificial goodness, 
it is a stage which cannot be skipped in 
the development of boys. The parent, 
teacher, or leader of boys who does not 
enforce upon them by pains and penal- 
ties, physical or mental, the rights and 
interests of others and of society, loses 
their respect. They despise him as 
weaker than themselves. They know 
that much of what they do is wrong; 
and they expect their elders to stand 
for something higher and better than 
what they are inclined to do, and to 
force that better and higher conduct up- 
on them, against their own inclinations. 

75 



//// /• 

• 
• :t. teach 

lea firmly and 

tui: the Best, which th 

■ 
enl 

nd enl 

ilincss, 

c\\\\ I Ii Wt 

lid int 
nd l.i. and vulgarity and 

whenever r 
in tin 

. ith tha 

ami he 

better 

tin: ; praci 

them, \\hu h he t.ike^ mattei 

bui bj the and p< 

the v\ 1 indignation, it n 

th whU h we compel him t 

them 

and 

ui: lllueru 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

Punishment, the method by which in 
the last resort constraint is exercised, and 
artificial goodness is secured and main- 
tained, is in its fundamental essence re- 
tributive. It returns upon the head of 
the offender some of the pain which his 
selfishness inflicts on others, some of the 
injury his badness inflicts on society; so 
that he may know and feel in his own 
person just how bad his badness is. It 
turns back on himself in the form of 
physical pain, privation of liberty, loss 
of privileges, censure, or the disapproval 
of his fellows some of the annoyance, 
loss, indignity, or unhappiness which he 
inflicted on others and society, so that 
he may associate pain to others and 
harm to society with pain and harm to 
himself. 

Just because it is essentially retributive 
punishment is at the same time prevent- 
ive. The boy will refrain from doing a 
thing which will bring pain and shame 
to him, when he would not refrain from 
it for the higher and better reason that 

77 



UES1 III : 

it bringi ben and harm 

tl 

ind the- I 

and the habit 
tfa .1 p 
• oth( 

nd it ii merely 
the 

DM .u. 1 in time 

I ith vi 
pic l esta >so- 

it! .u uineti 

habit tnd ai 

.ttcr ! 

nd i g leal m 
than the h 
Si 

unithmeni 
hel| 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

whether it is exercised in one or the 
other of two spirits. If we forget the 
element of goodness there is in the boy's 
badness, and regard him as altogether 
bad; if we accuse him of actually mean- 
ing to inflict on others all the annoyance 
which he does inflict, and of doing it 
with that deliberate purpose; if in other 
words we forget our first lesson, and 
misunderstand the boy, and in our mis- 
understanding treat him as wholly and 
maliciously bad, he will resent the pun- 
ishment; he will hate us; he will harden 
his heart against us; he will think (not 
altogether without justification) that 
there is a great deal of the meanness and 
narrowness and ugliness in us which we 
attribute to him; and he will set himself 
all the more defiantly against us, and 
all we represent, and all we may try to 
commend to him afterward. Parents 
who beat their boys in anger and irrita- 
bility; teachers who use satire to make 
their boys ridiculous in the eyes of their 
fellows; leaders who get down on bad 

79 



//// 

nefil uliuh they 

: the I 

induct) 
the 

in the 

What then ii the true spirit of di 

it be cxi 

pen the v 
the 

must • we re 

i«l ap| • ent in 

punish th We must 

that \\ I 

he did tl I think 

old 
the harm it would 

t<» d ill me: 

rnu • I that in punisl im 

mall ami 

mentai are still 
BO 



ARTIFICIAL GOODNESS 

friendly and kind to the greater and 
permanent part of him which the bad 
act misrepresents. Above all we must 
make it perfectly clear that we are not 
setting ourselves in our arbitrary self- 
assertion against him, but that we stand 
for larger interests of others and of 
society, which we hope in time he will 
come to stand for too; and that until 
he does come to stand for them, we are 
compelled to defend them against in- 
jury from him. I don't mean, of course, 
that we should attempt to say or explain 
all this, but that this should be the 
spirit in which we act. 

This spirit or attitude is just as firm 
and strong, yes, a great deal firmer and 
stronger than the spirit and attitude of 
personal antagonism, wholesale wrath 
and condemnation. We say, "I don't 
like to punish you; I am sorry I have 
to; but I must. You have attacked in- 
terests for which I stand; interests I 
am set to defend; and in fidelity to the 
interests of society, in loyalty to others; 

81 



//// QUES1 01 I III 

ue kindnc n n better 

. I am in- 

tck -» I 
: . them ; ind I I 

the time 1 j will 

i in tl rit. 

I he w ill 
thai h thai in inflicting it 

thai w him than 

w e go 

nnpun w hai he did, 

. he wt 






Ill 

THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

WE have defined the Quest of the 
Best in terms of its uninten- 
tional absence, or natural bad- 
ness; and in terms of its enforced sem- 
blance, or artificial goodness. Later we 
shall define it in terms of its deliberate 
denial, or sin: and in terms of the mo- 
tive and medium favorable to its culti- 
vation, or its dynamic. Now we must 
offer a positive and essential definition. 
The Quest of the Best is the aim to 
fulfill each interest, so far as it furthers 
the fulfillment, in proportion to their 
worth and claim, of all interests of all 
persons. 

By interest is meant whatever is sought 
as a satisfaction of self: every elemental 
desire being potentially good; and be- 
coming bad only when it displaces greater 

83 



//// QUES1 OF THE Bl w 

hi 10 : 

meant 

[her intci 

oth meant id m 

the indi- 
nt 

and COmpli- 

. I 

fined; and the w\ fine it 

apply it 

Lfl hern r 
ntv times, in mv different appli- 

ft] meanii 

I neither 

I I j u ho 
it ^ lean at heart mil get jusl bi d 

i when t! he hai in 

n which the happineti 
oth( well • himsell depen 

uch work 
re instanl the 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

work is done and its results are obtained, 
he will make himself as clean and pre- 
sentable as the pleasure of those with 
whom he is then to associate requires. 
Neither dirt nor absence of dirt are 
ends in themselves, but means to the one 
end of fulfilling the immediate interests 
of self or others with a view to the 
largest fulfillment of all the interests of 
all concerned. 

How much food to eat, or how little 
can never be rightly solved by merely 
considering how the boy likes it, or 
doesn't like it; or how much it hurts 
him, or doesn't hurt him. The most 
these considerations can do is to make 
him either a glutton or an ascetic; or 
more probably both in alternation. The 
Best in diet comes only when the boy 
goes into training and keeps himself in 
condition to serve some common inter- 
est, a gang or a game, or a piece of in- 
teresting work, in which others as well 
as he are helped or harmed, according 
as his condition and effort are or are 

85 



/ 1 IT 

the B li he 

IS wh.it ! | wh.it n 

trc I in- 

.il im 

lame 
pi that 

h in the 
blera ( 
akin to th nk, invoh 

h foil 

• . ularl} 1 

19 the heart. Ituntl 
the 

and <i 
cent 

ndurance in strenw ni 
e run- 

• 

t life. The 
I and I .ire 

1 at th li perma- 

nent n. 

96 



) 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

Alcoholic drink is still more delete- 
rious for a boy. It unsteadies his nerves ; 
gets him into the habit of relying on 
what goes into him rather than on the 
efforts he puts forth for the sense of 
well-being; makes him irregular and un- 
reliable; increases his natural disinclina- 
tion for hard work, both physical and 
mental; brands him as a boy no em- 
ployer is willing to engage or trust with 
responsibility; lowers his power of re- 
sistance to disease, and in general more 
than any other habit he can form unfits 
him for a useful and honorable life. 
No parent likes to see his son, no teacher 
likes to see his pupil, no employer likes 
to see his employee, falling a victim to 
this habit 

For in the case of tobacco, liquor, 
or opiates, the word victim is none too 
strong. With all these drugs, the more 
you have the more you want. They 
get inside the walls of the nervous sys- 
tem, capture the central citadel of the 
brain, and then turn traitors; betraying 

87 



I III ! 51 

the inl ftp- 

in t! cut 

;hc gi 

through nrhi< h more ftnd m icir 

•ter 

i hind or put out 
thin ; 

n their p 
Since thoe thii ; when 

nee d nil 

m the abuse; lince when 
1 to habitual use they turn 

n \vh 

intrinsicall] 

|] men w\ e them bad m-. 

think I I 

th them. The '. 

•her man 

Kt n there are go 

- them and 
\ think the ezhila 

tnd good cheer that 
go with thdC things under 

H 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

ditions are worth more than the slow, 
gradual, and indirect bad effects that 
follow after them. Whoever, counting 
the gain and cost, honestly estimates the 
gain in a given case greater than the 
cost, is just as Christian in the use he 
makes of these things, as another man 
who, with equal intelligence and hon- 
esty, comes to the conclusion that indul- 
gence would cost more than it is worth 
and abstains. 

In fact we have the example of Jesus 
himself on the side of indulgence at 
feasts and weddings. Of course we have 
no right to press his example too lit- 
erally; and say that because in the mild 
climate, at the slow pace, and with the 
light wines of Palestine in his day he 
found the occasional use of wine agree- 
able, and the risk of being called a 
wine-bibber, worth taking; therefore 
all who desire to be his followers in our 
strenuous times, in our stimulating cli- 
mate, and with our distilled liquors, 
should follow his literal example. That 

89 



uld be Whethc uld 

irth 

I : | 

• 

who are equal! 

I i indulge 
that the indu 

th, all 
thii aid b' 

the Quest of t! ( 

I ling thai the 

nu- 
ll than tl: 

who d uld alto be an 

tnment of the ( the B 

the 

gen 1 Irii k and 

i and ■ 
tent with the 
i the I 

.ut them out | 

/ht 
•nu-nt the | ; — 

I in th: 

ini n l be the 

90 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

same, will not, cannot, ought not to be 
the same, for all men, in all circum- 
stances, in all climates, in all periods of 
history, in all circles of society. The 
only absolute principle is that each man 
shall be fully persuaded in his own mind 
that what he does, and what he abstains 
from doing, is Best, in the long run, for 
himself, for others, and for all. 

Even though on principle, as a matter 
of logic, and as an honest judgment on 
our own experience as we impartially 
observe it, we believe that for us limited 
smoking and occasional moderate use of 
alcoholic liquor, would on the whole be 
Best; still, rather than lend the weight 
of our example of moderation to a prac- 
tice which in other and weaker brethren 
is sure to be followed immoderately and 
disastrously, we may, for these reasons, 
in order the better to be the keepers of 
our weaker brethren, draw the line of 
our temperance at the same point at 
which they draw their line of abstinence. 
Just as we may under certain circum- 

91 



I ..' Ql EST OF I'll: r 

Send fc 

usi en 
thenism, vk ith Ins luperttiti 
I t«> idoli still 
ither than offer 
up th< tern- 

uu e f i 1 in a ipirif 

perani I absti« 

Abstinent maintain tli 

tern j I .; plen 

th chai 

mpatheticallj illy, 

tably, that DO valuable friend* 
Bhij '.ill 

'.ill find thai i 

Ily ex| 

... 

than a measure 

:. a ! . 

• theoret 
perance, supplemented I thy 

.. the l nd the im 

intemperance, lie 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

developed at this point a principle which 
applies everywhere else, while the prin- 
ciple of theoretical abstinence does not. 
The Best in amusement is not un- 
bridled mischief, which takes no thought 
of the inconvenience and annoyance of 
others. Neither is it an austerity which 
cuts out of life the great indoor and 
outdoor sports and games, and makes 
boys into prim and proper little old 
men. The Best at this point calls for 
free play of nerve and muscle; the ex- 
citement of conflict; the interest in girls; 
the delight in grace of movement and 
beauty of form; music, and the drama — 
all, however, with a knightly regard for 
the fair rights of an opponent, a chiv- 
alrous respect for the opposite sex; a 
human concern for the dignity and 
character and compensation of those 
who professionally provide our amuse- 
ment; a generous determination not to 
take our pleasures on terms which cost 
too high in strain or stain to those who 
share them with us or provide them 

93 



Ii '.I aim. 

mend in ...... 

dude \n! »i in- 

U the g$ all 

the 

Where 

ie, uheth' or- 

ii to on 

• 
i h the polluted pic 
i line not 

bul in wl. .Mings, 

with- 

• the l that in- 

ter ency in i 

itami! 

unbling, and enerval 

It it- line. II 

aga 

DCC at :i the 

wrell p i public hall ; 

dance, the 

the Ufl 

: It 

H line noi I againsi the 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

theater, or the moving pictures; but for 
clean plays and pictures, decent condi- 
tions and treatment for those who take 
part, and a truthful and noble represen- 
tation of nature and life; and against 
indecent exhibitions, demoralizing con- 
ditions of production and the misrepre- 
sentation of life. It draws its line not 
for or against billiards and pool; but 
for them without gambling, intoxica- 
tion and vulgarity; and against them 
wherever these accompaniments are in- 
separable from them. It is the pursuit 
of recreation wherever we can find it, 
provided it does not cost others or our- 
selves too much pain or injury, and pro- 
vided it does not take from but adds 
to the zest we feel for work and study. 
It is the effort to give it its rightful and 
proportionate place in our own lives and 
in the life of the community of which 
we are members. 

The Best for a boy in work is neither 
the laziness that does nothing, nor the 
drudgery that makes him a mere ma- 

95 



}U1 w OF I'll: 

the hustle \n hi< h d< i 

think In! 

is I ighi and ren 

ol himsel nd, 

he •■ : the 

lab the itu 

^ htnu ter is ms lacking I 

i of ri< h parei ..illy it they 

ind, 
and m e them while they 

themselves, un- 

I their parent- pack them 

u- and per- 
tual inl I . cry 

■ 
in the o| Premature and 

\ the imagina- 

full arc suh- 

n hi< h the 

hers and Ol him- 

mak the im- 

96 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

efficiency, fidelity, responsibility; and at 
the same time enough leisure to give his 
imagination, his social instincts, his 
growing muscles and nerves that de- 
velopment on which in later life the 
highest efficiency must depend: — the 
balance of these two requirements 
should be maintained for every boy, rich 
or poor. 

The Best in the use of money is neither 
lavish expenditure nor a miserly penu- 
riousness. It requires one to keep in 
mind all the persons, including himself, 
who have claims upon his resources, and 
the ways in which he can make his 
money useful to each : and then when the 
question of any particular expenditure 
comes up, to compel it to run the gaunt- 
let of all these rival claims: spending 
for the particular object in question only 
when it is better than any other compet- 
ing claim; refusing to spend whenever 
there is some other more urgent or more 
permanently satisfactory claim. 

In this way one potentially gives to 
97 



■ 

i if 

i the 1 nd thui * hether he 

withholds in i 

till v !. :rn, k< - 

m tnd 
e thai it he 

ggest he 

• 
unwilling; but be he i tly 

nd- 

r and jre 
l ipend the 

here ii die \ 
To drive abreast the m 
thii 

er, die the 

h an imp 
in the lead; 

Onlv he who compel* 

meet the chalk ill the legiti- 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

mate claims of his relatives, his friends, 
his neighbors, the institutions of re- 
ligion and charity, is generous up to the 
full measure of Christian charity. 

In meeting opposition, difficulty, dan- 
ger, the Best is neither running away 
from them, nor rushing into them. It 
is weighing the worth of the interests 
at stake on the one side, against our own 
comfort, security, and ease, on the other. 
If the interest is conventional or trivial, 
such, for instance, as standing bare- 
headed at a burial service in a northeast 
March wind, and the risk is serious — 
converting a cold into pneumonia — true 
courage will conserve the greater good, 
and violate the convention by keeping on 
the hat. On the other hand, if the in- 
terest is great and urgent, — saving a 
child from drowning, courage requires 
one to plunge into the icy water, and if 
need be take cheerfully the period of 
illness that may follow such unaccus- 
tomed exposure. Courage is simply the 
Quest of the Best, impartially deter- 

99 



mined, in the 

i h one ii pi 

ithfulnesi tak 

wt i bui o! the 

the per 

U them It if .1 n 

the naki th i • 

rd tl son 

It 
the w 8l P 3 the 

truth in I' W ben if ii i mere qu 

u t, the fat t 

termin bal wre lay, thai it 

[] be bul ilighti l all c 

our k .ill for the 

i thai requii 
itatementt that admit 
mathematical pi n, matt 

I informal nature: and 

here truthfulness will b« -h- 

d literals the t 

in which it ii utt tnd the aceom- 

mannei 

pre 

When. I r, it is I q|] 

too 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

personal attitude, Christian kindness, 
while it will not misstate the facts, will 
yet intervene to change the facts before 
the statement is made. In the case of 
a visitor who calls in the middle of the 
forenoon of a day when I have just time 
to finish a lecture for that evening, my 
first feeling is one of annoyance; but 
before I have to speak there is time to 
cultivate a new feeling. Much as I 
wish to go on with my work, I really 
desire much more to retain his friend- 
ship. That desire to retain his friend- 
ship, even at the cost of postponement 
of pressing work, is a new and real fact; 
and by the time I have to speak, that, 
not my annoyance, is the real fact, and 
in stating it I am telling the truth. 

If, however, the work is so pressing 
that I cannot give him my morning, I 
can be sincerely and deeply sorry that 
I cannot spare the time; I can tell him 
truthfully how very sorry I am; I can 
show him the fact that my annoyance 
is not because he came, but because when 

101 



THE Ql l ST OF THE BEST 
he mil 

me the tin. I iheiw did 

be most haj 

I • truth in i 

musi firs l be the truth which i 

!i : that ii \m- mosi be gen- 
friendly! brave. 

thai truthful: 

t imprcs- 

i botl ■ • ' of our i 

I him in the preset] 

annot tell the truth 
unless uc seek r him and 

the B 1 Ella Lyn 

well this extreme truth: 

I o be truthful one a nly 

w h.it one thinks, but think w fa 

It 
i, hut impi 
thai must be borne in mi 
the righi impi ne mil rry 

■ 

ard 
I id >;ng 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

is not a recipe for making life easy, but 
for making it worth while; and no one 
who has thoroughly tested the results of 
frank, accurate, reliable speech and ac- 
tion will want to go back into the viti- 
ated air of lying. It is evident, however, 
that truth-telling can surely be based 
only on right living. If we are sympa- 
thetic, generous, courageous, just, it will 
be possible to be open and true. In so 
far as we are bitter, avaricious, cowardly, 
self-deceitful, we shall find it hard to 
be wholly sincere with others. We can- 
not isolate truthfulness. To demand truth 
of ourselves is therefore to demand up- 
rightness; thus truth becomes the guar- 
dian of our character." 

To state the same thing in terms of 
our general formula, truthfulness is 
seeking the Best for self in the long run, 
for others and for all. For that Best it 
sacrifices the immediate goods that can be 
so easily gained by lying; and accepts for 
self, and when necessary inflicts on oth- 
ers, whatever temporary pain and un- 

103 



//// Ql I W 01 III. 

the pi truth 
maj in 

In cxih.n 

ween oureclvet tnd atben the I 

aumbei 

I 
leni I the K n 

• numl The H 

in these • nuiti; ird 

f<»r the common advantage w hie I: 

the 
benefit 
he tnu the 

:v The man w I 

been taught thii kind of hoc 
in umbrella fr 

bec c the owner 3 

I it affectl h keenly as 

• n. 

The problenii h * mere! 

put if in the otfn 

: I ' 
tnpath] 
il the tame I 

n inte 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

which includes both him and me. Any- 
thing less than that; any merely selfish 
action that disregards him; any merely 
sentimental action that in looking out 
for him disregards myself, and fails to 
assert and protect my place and func- 
tion in the community, is less than the 
Best. Integrity is literally wholeness, 
and no boy is whole unless self, others, 
and the community are all considered 
according to their proportionate worth 
and claim, in each act of buying and 
selling, employing, or being employed. 
Not, of course, that there is time or at- 
tention for specific, conscious considera- 
tion in each case; but that latent and in 
the background there is a disposition to 
include and promote the fair interest of 
all, and that any thought or act which 
would violate the interest of either party 
would rouse a conscious and effective 
protest. We must aim to make our busi- 
ness transactions a benefit, not to one or 
two, but to all concerned. This Quest is 
far more arduous and interesting than 

105 



THk 

the ^ l 

ill, wfa 

men mean by bin 
In dealin 

iat< hing the plea f the 

mem .1- it flies, nor pul me 

thai nc 
wc dread to und 

lent, 
i w bole, making the 

1 our 

tnd ao :ivc meant to what 

n the futin I >i!\ w hen 

thll nlv 

i in thai wh 

I tutu; . 

en( be Best Tl 

(|uircs tl. the 

In 



THE OUEST OF THE BEST 

venience of all who are called upon to 
see or use the objects, or live in the 
house where they are. It is neither the 
disorder that disregards the pleasure or 
convenience of others; nor the fussiness 
that insists on having things "exactly 
so," to suit our personal whim; but such 
an arrangement and disposition of them 
as will most please and least annoy all 
w r ho have to deal with them; allowing 
self to count for one, and no more than 
one, in the total number. This orderli- 
ness without fussiness is absolutely nec- 
essary if many persons are to live to- 
gether happily in the same home, or 
work together effectively in the same 
room or office. 

Refinement which thrusts coarse, dis- 
agreeable facts into the background, and 
lifts only the attractive and pleasant as- 
pects of our common human life into 
the foreground, and yet can deal firmly 
and effectively with disagreeable, and 
even disgusting facts, when they have to 
be dealt with, is so obviously superior 
107 



. that 

b included in the equipment 

the 

between nun 
■new, between friend tnd 
between host and g i m mu< h better 

and ii 10 essenl 

' the profitable and en : 

• meet hat 

rules, an.) common-tent 

In fai t. manm 
• not in t 1 re tun 

ind | in 

• life, amusement, so- 

behai d the 
I in public | 
The Best with the I 

that ipi ing up vi be 

t w ith Otl 

nor w 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

to the claims, just or unjust, of others. 
It is a peaceableness that looks fairly 
and impartially on both the neighbor's 
claim and our own; waives our own if 
that of the neighbor is larger and better, 
stands up for our own if our own is 
larger and better than his; in either case, 
however, with an eye to the just and 
reasonable rights of both the neighbor 
and myself, and the good order of the 
community which includes us both. If 
I yield my claim, it is with reluctance; 
recognizing its worth, but parting with 
it to conserve a greater worth in the 
neighbor's claim. If I assert my interest 
against his, that too is done with reluc- 
tance; cherishing all the while his in- 
terest; wishing it were possible to sup- 
port it; regretting that a greater claim 
of my own, and of society which seeks 
the just dues of us all, myself included, 
compels me to withhold that which my 
neighbor desires, but which I cannot 
yield without sacrificing something for 
myself which it is not Best either for 

109 



nil Ql 1 w OF i in. Bl ST 

myself, 01 foi him, u memh I so- 
i\. tli.it I ihould 
Thus, whetht If up an I 

lu- in, 

\s hetl to the 

rhbor, the 

ibU 1 11 have :t the 

good for all ; and will 
and permanent 1 1 
the b j w\ m temporarily 

; w i th partiei arc enlii 

in the < -t there will be 

i Of 

arbitration mil bring tli.u just 

wl ad where 

eably 
tlu- on which he will 

I will • 

The 

\m- and the- i which pre 

•. the t lubi ui : 
we belong, the community an .try 

Yet 

nttl ' ] \ >up- 

i icli in their lenrice; hut thai p 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

and balanced loyalty which is true to 
them as far as their claims are superior; 
but is also true to our own rights and 
interests as individuals, having relations 
outside as well as inside the special circle 
which demands our specific loyalty. It 
is no real favor, no wise loyalty, when a 
mother obliterates herself, breaks down 
needlessly her health, contracts her in- 
terests and tastes, in slaving for her chil- 
dren. It is not a wise loyalty to one's 
employer when one overworks, and di- 
minishes efficiency, for trivial and tran- 
sitory emergencies. True loyalty gives 
one's Best; and to give one's Best he 
must keep himself at his Best. In the 
excessive and unwise loyalty which gives 
everything, and allows the self and its 
powers to deteriorate into something less 
than the Best, women who enter employ- 
ment are much more apt to err than men. 
The highest loyalty demands the Quest 
of the Best for both self and others, and 
for the community and country of which 
both self and others are members. 

Ill 



I ill Ql I ///. /;/ 57 

(will 

the B 
anient 

Wl 

that I 
thing whu h he an nnn 

tak : Ik- I ol the 

Q ^ether 

linment n I that be 

lined k him humble, the infij 

whii h Ik- Mini, il 

elf-re- 

I :> ;irls 

prihlc: 

een then 1 1 
hivali :irl 

ind 

her n \i -he h \ ten- 

: .1 g nd an 



THE OUEST OF THE BEST 

even more chivalrous pity for her if she 
has not been thus tenderly reared and 
protected. Reverence for womanhood, 
and potential motherhood, must mark 
his whole attitude and bearing toward 
woman. Nothing less than what is Best 
for her, as well as Best for himself, will 
a chivalrous boy permit himself to say 
or do to her. Not until in thought and 
feeling, word and deed, he shields and 
protects her as he would wish his own 
sister, his own daughter when he comes 
to have one, to be shielded and protected, 
can a boy be enrolled in the Quest of 
the Best. 

All this, of course, is perfectly con- 
sistent with that playful banter, and 
good-natured raillery behind which the 
deep and intense interest each sex takes 
in the other is wont to conceal itself in 
early years. Purity is not absence of in- 
terest in the opposite sex, but the pres- 
ence of it; freed, however, from the 
coarse, the brutal, the cruel attitude that 
too often accompanies it. The Best for 

113 



THI / //// 

ible iptd from woman; 
the Best I mpotiiblc 

m man. i their mutual 

enrichmenl i • meni thi 

i happy m 

between the 
un 

osent 

I rm, 

} w ho ( hei ish ill \ il at, the 

vindictive return of 
t a weal nee 

in their running over us. I 

them well in all thi ther 
than their wrongdoing; ai 

w them 
their ill will into g 

thev y we mUSl quietly 

<| firmly maintain our I 
them. All the time, h v 

•' 

a t n which will 

t c r p r ( ' :ent 

thev are and repent we nubt be 

114 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

more than ready to forgive. In short, 
here as everywhere, if we will follow the 
Quest of the Best we must rise to a point 
of view which includes both them and 
ourselves as the objects of a common 
good will, which it is our business to 
serve and express in every possible way. 
Undoubtedly this is hard; but no one 
ever claimed that the Quest of the Best 
is easy. 

In the fundamental responsibility for 
life, the Best is such a devotion to others 
as well as ourselves, that their feelings 
are made just as real, their rights as 
sacred, their interests as precious, their 
hopes and loves as dear to us as are our 
own. Such an impartial devotion to all 
whom our lives touch we may not attain 
in boyhood, or manhood, or even in this 
brief mortal life; but the Quest of it, 
the acceptance of nothing lower as our 
standard and our goal, is possible even 
in boyhood. 

Stated in still more general terms the 
Quest of the Best is sacrifice of self, or 

115 



rill QUI w 01 //// /' 

f others, just the 

• -t ;• I 

r the 

rid ind h the good 

ill on whom the 

nd then in d 

up he ind hil in tc 
nd their int mtlSl COtlOl 

C e.u h, and QO m re. \ | hut 

that one hai bility for h 

friends, which lie has 

Still, when tl. 
when the inicrot> oi Otfa irlj 

at -take in hil ICtiOD, then he mutl 

be ind bi and w 

treat their in- 
ter .\n. [ndeed, ii he is in 

the Quest of the Best they | - OWIL 

I r the Best kr .ate dh 

l I e Best ii nc; 
musi hip 

■ 



THE QUEST OF THE BEST 

self and others in the unity of a single 
whole. In other words the Quest of the 
Best is wholeness, holiness; with sacri- 
fice of the part to the whole, the member 
to the organism, self to society, whenever 
such sacrifice is required to fulfill the 
largest interest of all concerned. 

If we put together the separate fea- 
tures of the boy who is enlisted in the 
Quest of the Best the portrait will be 
something like this: 

He keeps himself neat and clean out 
of regard for others, but on occasion is 
ready to get as dirty as work or play may 
require. 

He eats heartily, but only such and 
so much food as will keep him in most 
effective working and playing condi- 
tion. 

He foregoes liquor and tobacco when- 
ever they would mean either deteriora- 
tion for himself, or destruction of those 
weaker than he. 

He takes in all the amusement and fun 
he can get without annoyance or deg- 

117 



THE Ql i : ill: 

• | 

Well .i< I) • in n ( 

when he ( in help il to the | all- 

Die fatigue 

l ! .it he 

ipend j the 

or worthy than he, 

I I and bravely deft 
all the m whai 

thai Ihardy tl. 

it 

II n ihrevt dly for fa 

yet jusl i \\illv for hi! cusf 

cm pi : cm pi 

1 1 the truth in kindi 

hi to hear it. 

He makei the future ai real as the 

both ' 

He if ai rderly for the moK pan 



THE OUEST OF THE BEST 

as disorderly on special occasions, as the 
pleasure and convenience of all con- 
cerned may require. 

He talks frankly about unpleasant 
facts when necessary; but keeps silent 
about them when talk would serve no 
good social purpose. 

He is polite with an inner politeness 
born of a desire to give pleasure rather 
than pain. 

He has at heart the welfare of all with 
whom he associates ; living at peace with 
them so far as he can; and fighting fair- 
ly when peace cannot be honorably 
maintained. 

He is loyal to his group and his 
friends, when he can be loyal to them 
without being false to himself. 

He thinks little of his attainments, but 
much of his aims; deriving humility 
from the former, and self-respect from 
the latter. 

He treats in thought, word, and deed 
all women and girls as he would wish 
others to treat his own mother, or sister. 
119 



THE Ql I v ////. /;/ 

helpful to th< 

v in he w ith 

tnd 
them die instant they repent 

so many e 
himsel , ; take lelighl in 

their happiness and iu< 

n. 

He i as a member and 

i the on al \n I md 

re individual 
ind i whenever the i 

N I that an] I r man f<»r that 

matter, atta;: mprel 

hut that he \\h«> II ei in the QoeSfl 

B • : rately at ept 

low in. 






IV 



M-ISSING THE BEST: SINS OF EXCESS AND 
DEFECT 

ONE of the most effective organi- 
zations for setting and keeping 
before boys high ideals of con- 
duct and character is the Boy Scouts. 
Their "law" or ideal includes these ten 
articles : 

i. A Scout's honor is to be trusted. 

2. A Scout is loyal. 

3. A Scout's duty is to be useful, to 
help others, and to do a kind action 
every day. 

4. A Scout is a friend to all, and a 
brother to every other Scout, no mat- 
ter to what social class the other be- 
longs. 

5. A Scout is courteous. 

6. A Scout is a friend to animals. 

121 



//// QUI W OF III! 1:1 w 

\ - 111 

\ i and whistle! Kin 

.ill cin iimtl 

ut II llir 

\ 

i. 

In a unall ttoop tli 
e exampl 

have been trained by their lavi 1 1 

rlv 

nteen : 

\ ne in t 

them, but tin 

t diem help themselvc 

" \ Si ut w lien ; 

t r iea b i find the owner ( 
dina 'Find 

' \ s so 

quU kl 

•rk; 

he t.ik in it. An ordinal*} ; 

uld have 

; bj l. thei to 



MISSING THE BEST 



keep quiet when she is not well; he does 
so. Ordinary boy takes no notice." 

"A Scout's father says to him, 'My 
boy, attend to business; be obliging'; he 
takes care to do so. Ordinary boy says, 
'Father is fidgety.' " 

"A Scout seeing a lady or young chil- 
dren afraid to pass a cow or any other 
animal, escorts them by, and sets an ex- 
ample of bravery. Ordinary boy laughs 
at them." 

"A Scout if asked to drink spirits or 
beer refuses. Ordinary boy generally 
seems to think it manly." 

"A Scout is seen at church or chapel 
on Sunday. Ordinary boy takes a stroll 
for pleasure." 

"A Scout, seeing a poor man or 
woman carrying a heavy parcel, would 
take it from them. Ordinary boy would 
take no notice." 

"A Scout seeing a poor horse hauling 
a load up a hill would push behind. 
Ordinary boy would hang on, adding to 
the burden." 

123 



nil. i >i nil. 

a m.ii. 

in n 
putt 

and v. 
Tlu- e antwen taken itraighl from ; 

.in ideal 

• up in 

: i ii i unterpari i 

• the- un\'. all 

ilia ih l Sut !i a 

mething ol w hich we are all 

and men alike, i 

\ nor men 

That maj I 

: I : 

better than r be< aui 

R the stai 

the all in ea< h 

:ul the e of g thai 

\ will return N 

with him 
thai at 

124 



MISSING THE BEST 



every point he constantly misses the per- 
fection, not only of the attainment but of 
the aim, which it demands. 

The man who seeks merely the 
good is a sinner. Perhaps that state- 
ment comes as a surprise and a shock. 
Perhaps we have thought of the sin- 
ner as the man who seeks something 
bad. There is no such man. No one 
seeks the bad. Every one seeks the good. 
As an old Latin phrase says, "Quid- 
quid petitur petitur sub specie boni" 
"Whatever is sought at all is sought 
in the guise of a good." If any of 
us have been congratulating ourselves 
that we arc not sinners because we do 
not seek the bad we have been greatly 
overestimating ourselves. There are no 
persons who seek the bad. The dis- 
honest workmen and merchants and pro- 
moters; the corrupt politicians; the men 
who conduct saloons and gambling dens; 
the women on the streets and in brothels; 
the inmates of our prisons and jails — 
each one is an Esau in quest of some 

125 



//// 

mic ru gooii 

'uld 

I man 
nc good- 

tement 

\\ i \\ :.\ 

we 

in. 

never itai 
bul alwayi in com] i with other 

: ; tl 

• •• 
ther may 

e thii n In 

run A] the 

Thai merely 

the- : P •* 

lit is tl Best The 

me the 

I ' rare 

'\ the 

The 

f the i throat 



MISSING THE BEST 



stomach; the temporary exhilaration; the 
jolly good-fellowship; the freedom of 
speech and action when the inhibitions 
that customarily hold one in check are 
withdrawn — all these are good; and we 
shall not convert the drunkard from his 
bottle and his glass by telling him that 
the good he seeks and finds in them are 
bad. It is the impaired health; the less- 
ened efficiency, the lost position, the 
neglected and abused families, the for- 
feited self-control and self-respect that 
are bound up with the drinking habit — 
it is the displacement of these goods that 
constitutes the badness; and makes the 
drunkard the sinner that he is. 

The awakened conscience in regard to 
the social evil is coming from the ap- 
plication of this same insight. There is 
nothing intrinsically bad in sex. On the 
contrary Nature for purposes of her own 
has crowned the attraction of the sexes 
for each other with her highest prizes. 
But when it makes family life impossi- 
ble; when it results in loathsome disease; 

127 



nil 

when n nils the livei ol mull 

id ihame; then 
the length and breadth and h and 

' the* lltplfl 

ke the ill relation that in- 

VCl th in I u I :tcr 

£mn\ the I 

mar- 
boi do tnai elf. 

A it lather 

Don'i man . 

• her, bill for he 

e don't think you must marry her 

tOSe What he 

meant bj this rath lin- 

Wai that married lite : 

m\A atS0< 

I tl ' . 
imuni: I peratioi in tl. 

: which all 

!i «»ther : i the v h 1 pr»>- 

ind pi 

neven 



MISSING THE BEST 



permanent displacement of one's social, 
aesthetic, vocational and spiritual inter- 
ests. The so-called badness of the mar- 
riage is simply the goodness of the things 
it displaces. 

Things so excellent as study or office- 
work may become bad for the student 
and worker in this same way. This is 
especially true of girls, who are far more 
apt than boys to pursue these goods inor- 
dinately. A brilliant English writer who 
never speaks save in paradox puts it in 
this way. "Women do these things so 
well that they shouldn't be allowed to 
do them at all." What he means by this 
extreme and paradoxical statement is 
that good as these things are in them- 
selves, whether done by women or by 
men, yet women, partly in consequence 
of their keener conscience, partly in con- 
sequence of their more delicate organi- 
zation, are apt to give to these pursuits, 
when they pursue them eagerly, such 
whole-hearted devotion that they are 
physically exhausted, and nervously de- 

129 






//// III HI W 

ted ; unequal to the- infii her 

Ithj maternil 

t u 1 I 

anyth 
whit h .1 v- man bu 

iblc 

her husband) 
her children, her home ind her km 

M 

makei man. \\ hen 

kin- 
dled t oily 
charity witl I 
hardens It all i ith : « enj 
menl i il tympathj ' iti< .il in- 

:t\ ; then the-e ;;ie.ue: 

the money \\f 

good, hut tli 

great< 

in 

The f bun thai 

the 



MISSING THE BEST 



universal truth that every act men desire 
and perform has in it an element of 
good, and is done for the sake of that 
good element, and becomes sin by reason 
of the greater good this little good pre- 
vents. Yet clear as this truth is, in life, 
and in novels and plays, which are 
the mirrors of life, we are constantly 
meeting persons who indulge in what 
Mrs. Deland, in "The Iron Woman," 
calls the "perfectly honest sophistica- 
tion" that whatever is naturally good — 
to take her instance, the running away 
with another man's wife — is therefore 
right. We need to understand, and to 
make the world understand, that simply 
because a thing is good it does not neces- 
sarily follow that it is a good thing to 
do, or that the man or woman who does 
it is good. The morally good can never 
be found nor justified by the naturally 
good; for there is natural good in all 
acts, and in all men, good and bad alike. 
Unless we are all to be sinners like Esau 
we must justify our acts by something 

131 



nil QUI W OF I III i:i ST 

tnd in than the 

goodness tempi 

II gOOd : 

p i hanu ter tnd cool 
1 1 h time md tl 

can 

jc <>r a divorce! the 

pin 

the 
• ut Qtfl Of 

nan who ch 

due t it hut 

displaced com] tfa the 

good gained, thai determinei whether 

wt ire wrong or rij Hie qoest of die 

• 
<>ther go ii the coma 

.ill the Mn there ever v. 
in this sinful world 

All this u ill become ( leaf ii ace 

• ethical 

nd the issues will come 

:lv if we put them in the form 
In pei 



MISSING THE BEST 



to give pleasure to those who see you in 
the ordinary intercourse of life? Do 
you never neglect soap and water, comb 
and brush, or economize unduly on laun- 
dry? Do you select the clothes you 
wear with a reasonable regard for the 
prevailing preferences of your fellows, 
and a desire to express in this way your 
harmony with them? At the same time, 
while appreciating the social service and 
good will which clean hands and face, 
stylish clothes, and harmonious color? 
express, are you ready to get into the 
dirt when work requires it, and to wear 
old-fashioned, threadbare and patched 
garments when they are all you can 
honestly afford without robbing yourself 
or others of something more important? 
Anything less than this, through thought- 
lessness, or worse than this, through ex- 
travagance and personal vanity, is far 
less than the Best, cometh of evil; is 
sin. 

In diet, do you eat just so much, no 
more, no less, as will keep you in the 

133 



Tin QUI 01 \ i 

king ordei 1 1 
substantial m and 

thai I 

.it .ill • Do 

: such iinnecei 

; me 
i take all to m 

•i mam 
menl and 

and • 

and 

all tl the expo 

thii 

:n. 

W til ilco- 

crel v 
the- felloe - \\ ho cannoi indu 
thii excess 

1 1 
r the w 

m \\ horn the i rod 
bin a these th 

and 

I I :\k or not drink, 



MISSING THE BEST 



to your own greatest permanent physical, 
mental and social efficiency, as that is 
modified by a brotherly regard for those 
weaker than you think you are, or who 
suffer from the excess of others? If you 
answer "Yes," then whatever form your 
practice may take, you are a temperate 
person. If you answer "No," then 
whether you drink and smoke, or refrain 
from drinking and smoking, you are in 
that slavery to appetite, or that indiffer- 
ence to the effects of your act on others, 
which is the sin of intemperance. 

In recreation, do you keep alive as 
many as possible of the physical powers 
and mental faculties for which your reg- 
ular work does not call? Do you give 
your opponent as full and fair a chance 
as you take for yourself? Do you count 
the cost to those who furnish your amuse- 
ment, refusing to take your pleasure in 
ways that bring degradation or danger to 
those who provide them for you or share 
them with you? Much as you like play, 
and good as you hold it to be, do you give 

135 



. QUI w OP THE in w 

better 
thei 

theatei 
; whethei 

c (hi 

the Best 1 ther 

through n ur fel- 

<>r tli 

■ 
.it 100 ! 

then \n bethel 
wheth 
lei n hethei tcr 

u arc not in the 
•'.c Best, bu( in lia 

• othen 

thr in the goo< 

the iervi( . in 

I ) . r tak 

i oi equipment, what 

. 
1 1 ive things 

then) 



MISSING THE BEST 



thoroughly well, to save yourself effort 
and pains? 

Or, if you do not fail on this side, do 
you never work so hard, or such long 
hours, or in such unsanitary conditions, 
or when so sick, through ambition or 
weak acceptance of an employer's 
tyranny, that you take out of yourself, 
out of your future health and efficiency, 
out of your future family, more than you 
have a right to take? 

Both of these failings, doing too little 
and too much work, are sins. The 
former is a sin against your fellow-man; 
the latter is a sin against nature and 
yourself. No man can escape one or 
the other of these sins in his work, unless 
he steadfastly maintains the Quest of the 
Best, which in work is doing what work 
he does as well as he can, with due regard 
to the just interests of employer and 
consumer; and as much as he can con- 
sistently with permanent health: but so 
far as possible refuses to work beyond 
the limits within which he can keep in 

137 



Till QUI W OF THE Bl 57 

ilthful I irtherm 

lame itandardi and 

w\ 

fell rkmcn, the Quest of the I 

• 
through uni vcr 

law 1 11 1 metl . t • 

th the 
lab and clan np 

ind humane level J 
If. 
In the lavii 

. neve; I lar 

where tl 10 

ild make jrou m 

r wh some 

can 

• the miser 
Oi e triflii 

lire 

later I re important 

maneni intei <>r 

blishii -hi, i 



MISSING THE BEST 



start in business? Or do you never 
spend on yourself what some one who 
has a claim on your help needs vastly 
more than you do? These are the sins 
of the spendthrift. 

Or do you never, through weakness 
or sentimentality, give to help persons 
for whom you care very little, money 
with which you could do much more 
good by investing in your own develop- 
ment, and the security and independence 
of yourself and your future family? 
These are the sins of the soft-hearted, 
weak-willed supporters of promiscuous 
charity. 

Every cent saved, spent or given 
which does not further the Quest of the 
Best for self in the long run, and for 
others in proportion to their just claims 
upon us and our identification with 
them, is a sinful cent; or rather, since 
money cannot be either sinful or tainted, 
it is, whether hoarded or squandered, or 
unwisely bestowed, the cent of a sinner. 

In facing danger, criticism, difficulty, 
139 



Till QUI H /// Bl W 

un| tin- 

it, through I w\\ai ma] 

• that it the thingi of lift 

the ■ and 

the 

at Itakc 

lint J 'jar 

t : ik of I I ta the other hai 

u tare 1 never be in- 

ritk 

UU like health, or 

tiled a quitt I -hi rk 

i dido 9 t? 

li these attn ni-c 

!i put in [ 

: in oi ami 

'.tli, w hen these th 

iter and better thingi : In 

that is in competition v 

h ; whu h it the 

the 



MISSING THE BEST 



risk or lose them when they come in com- 
petition with higher things. 

Do you never regard the person to 
whom you are speaking as entitled to 
less of the truth than you hold yourself, 
and less than you would wish to have 
told to you if you were in that person's 
place? Then, whether the words you 
say correspond with the facts or not, you 
are at heart a liar; for treating the per- 
son to whom we talk or write as un- 
worthy of the truth as we know and 
hold it, is the essence of a lie. 

On the other hand, do you never for- 
get or violate your responsibility to ab- 
sent persons not to reveal facts shared 
in confidence? Such betrayal of con- 
fidence or friendship, for the sake of 
full formal truthfulness to one who is 
mischievous or malevolent in the use he 
would make of such knowledge, is the 
other form of falsehood; which, if not 
so generally recognized and severely 
condemned, yet falls just as far short of 
that Quest of the Best for all, which 

141 



THl w 

ii h ubt* 

ther : but 

the i the Bcs( 

it; I) than the 

1 ! ire, 

I in who 

thef 

Mot 

lie is 
Literal truth-telling is e 

II literal ol 

f truthfulness, which 
B and intei 

w hum we 

A, and those r the 

b, in t ; md 

die heart all the time, and 
them all, 
v between t 

find an i it. 

It 
und and kepi 1 

•11 pen 

[] all that in 



MISSING THE BEST 



the claims and confidences of others we 
have a right to tell. Whoever keeps that 
Quest before him, will be true to per- 
sons, which is a vastly higher and harder 
thing than being merely true to facts, 
considered apart from their personal re- 
lations. Truth in this highest sense is, 
as Stevenson calls it, "truth of inter- 
course." To fall short of that is to be 
the really despicable liar. 

The cases where this higher truth of 
intercourse, truthfulness to personal re- 
lations, like the keeping of secrets one 
has promised to keep, and the protection 
of friends against malicious misuse of 
information, compels departure from 
literal truthfulness to fact, are in ordi- 
nary, normal life extremely rare. But 
they sometimes come : and while we must 
beware of exaggerating their importance 
or frequency, yet when they do come, 
as come they rarely and occasionally 
will, we must be ready to appeal from 
the lower to the higher truthfulness, 
from the easy and simple conformity to 

143 



I i! I peril 

I D the 

. 

thing, mu< h foi I iking mil 

r i 
th w hom j 
D ; ilment of m 

intlu- 

makc d( 
that j 
t willingly be the othei 

That is the m 
the h.uiil, il never. 

through ind 

•ien, 
the better « 
tak th- 

r much f"r little, thr< lip- 

: DM 
r fraiulu' 

: tunitie> t'» g I !. . 

in 



MISSING THE BEST 



this case you are the conniving victim 
instead of the aggressive perpetrator of 
the dishonesty. As Carlyle has taught 
us, knave and dupe are cut out of the 
same piece of cloth. Being cheated our- 
selves, when greater vigilance and en- 
terprise would prevent it, no less than 
cheating others, is equally below that 
Best for self, for society, and for all, of 
which every really and thoroughly hon- 
est man is in perpetual and vigilant 
Quest. 

Do you never appear late at an ap- 
pointment because you stopped on the 
way to talk with a friend? Do you never 
put off important work for a game of 
tennis or a picture show? Do you never 
spend the present moment in a way 
which, though pleasant and easy while it 
lasts, yet works havoc with your own 
larger permanent interests, and the in- 
terests of your relatives and friends 
which are bound up with your perma- 
nent welfare? That is one form of sin 
in the misuse of time. 

145 



nil Ql ESI 01 ill. 

I I (ill the ; 

ment w ith h 

futui , to thai not 

be hi] air 

M or enj 

meal .it I 1 ha( ul- 

pablc : ■ time; ■ tin wh 

made 
tbool the* 
whole lift 

menu make. \ thei i trelea | 
meat i 

:li the 
10 the III 

In the neni ol 

ur piv 

bi (nit imm rial 

\ fort 

■ 
the of t ! 

D? 



MISSING THE BEST 



Or are you never so particular to have 
things exactly as you like to have them, 
that you sacrifice efficiency in yourself, 
and genial relations with your associates 
to this red tape obsession? That is like- 
wise a sin against the use for which 
things were made; a sin against the con- 
ditions of agreeable living together. 

In conversation do you never obtrude 
coarse and low suggestions to the annoy- 
ance of the sensitive and the confirmation 
of the vulgar in their vulgarity? Or do 
you never shrink from speaking plainly 
and frankly about disagreeable subjects, 
when hygiene, health, sanitation or mor- 
als requires? These are opposite ways 
of sinning in these matters. For failure 
to make the Best of unpleasant subjects 
when they need to be discussed, and fail- 
ure to keep them out of mind and con- 
versation when there is no necessity for 
their discussion, are equally removed 
from the Quest of the Best; and there- 
fore equally sinful. 

Are you always careful that no per- 
147 



//// r 

I of th 

little 

w\ n humdrum living ini 

the other ban 
iril ai 
n a Win 
trmulai and tin 

•ii never ittnd 
much on i nv th 

made ill al i ire- 

ful i all the 

At 
me tunc i that 

formal 
play of dial training but 
ap| don of 

ntlu 

A the rul 

ricr betW( \ei v. ng 

the ipii ■ and equalii 

IdreM pcopK 

14S 



MISSING THE BEST 



not to offend them, yet ready to speak 
the needed word of harshness? Do you 
always remember the chivalrous act and 
courtesy of the home in the office or 
camp, yet without becoming in these 
surroundings estranged by foolish ob- 
servance of artificial codes? Do you 
respect and admire the gracious and 
well-mannered conduct of others, but, at 
the same time, refuse to place manners 
above character. In short, are you al- 
ways, in speech and conduct, the perfect 
gentleman? Anything other than this is 
sin. 

Do you never pick a quarrel or stir 
up strife, or fail to pour oil on the waters 
when strife has been stirred up by 
others? Do you never "carry a chip on 
your shoulder," ready to take offense at 
the first hint of a slighting remark, or a 
difference of opinion or taste? 

Or do you never allow others to run 
over you, putting up tamely with unjust 
disparagement and insult, and allowing 
your influence to be weakened, and the 

149 



/ 

the 

ur em 
• d 
tent with thai 

■ 
which in tfa 

1 1 it your own 

en life it- 

! | never 

nk fr .il ur ; 

Hi- 
nt un- 

ir men 

but undc 

u. wl 

idly and silently by when othei crt 

the 

weak in ' 

waste pub! ( m 

the b 

150 



MISSING THE BEST 



of treason, the worst sin a man can com- 
mit against his country; for they are 
equally removed, one at the positive, the 
other at the negative pole, from loyalty 
and patriotism. 

In your estimation of yourself, are you 
conceited over some gift of nature or 
fortune, or some former achievement, so 
that you count yourself worth more to 
the world than the service you are intent 
on rendering? 

Or are you so cast down over defects, 
defeats, failures and mistakes, that you 
value yourself at less than the worth of 
the good work which in spite of all these 
drawbacks and handicaps you are still 
able to do? 

Conceit and false modesty, elation and 
depression, are alike signs that one is for 
the time being at least out of the Quest 
of the Best, and therefore in sin. 

Do you never consent in thought, 
word, or deed to having woman de- 
graded to be the mere instrument of 
man's brutal lust? Do you never contem- 

151 



ill 1 w OF rill Bl ST 

the w ictJicvincti 
bich ] 

r the v 
D j u nei dc in 

Mien \ ind atl 

ne;i, w Inch tend 

the ruin <>f t: ifortu- 

iiate women u the whit 
whom we are ! 

B Pai liamenl ii driv- 

( the 

good women 

them ulti- 
ma- nd live I . dull, half-v 

• nee thai 

D w ith vastly lea important 

like monej making ami club- 

• •' h ihynt 

■■ I 

ud the 
I 
the ccesa <>r defect a the 



MISSING THE BEST 



Toward enemies, rivals, those who 
wrong and malign you, do you never 
wish or plot evil in return? Do you 
never gloat over their misfortunes, and 
inwardly lament their prosperity? That 
is the sin of a little heart and a mean 
soul. 

Or do you never submit to misrepre- 
sentation and malicious injury, without 
stating squarely the truth, and standing 
up for your rights? That is weakness 
not meekness; the sin of a flabby phy- 
sique and a soft head. 

Both of these kinds of sin foster and 
encourage evil-speaking, evil thinking, 
and evil doing; the one in ourselves, the 
other in those whom we permit to speak 
and act out evil unrebuked. 

In the sacred responsibility for hu- 
man life, do you never by word or 
deed, by omission or commission, leave 
those associated with you or dependent 
upon you exposed to avoidable strain or 
pain of body or mind? Do you never 
by thoughtlessness or unkindness induce 

153 



nn 

them itat ooditi 

tend t" diminish i 
weaken resistai m and 

iihi s.i shorten life and htl 
tc-D death I n^w w\ 

mu 

r let ; iy teai I 
empl( don 

pressure, on 

to 
the * die futw 

in fori i hild- 

labor, m hool pressure, unconti 

tend to undermine the health 
ill rten the I 

j . 
jusi die little bundle of appetites, 

happen I i ai any pa 

ment, • nu 

d fatal pment, the present and 



MISSING THE BEST 



future interests of your fellows, the wide- 
reaching claims of society — as mere 
means to be respected and furthered, or 
despised and betrayed, according as they 
will or will not serve your immediate 
personal ends? That is the more com- 
mon form of selfishness, the inner essence 
of all sin whatsoever. Or do you never 
allow the customs and claims of society, 
the urgent demands of your fellows, to 
press you down with such a heavy and 
leaden weight that you have no free, 
light-hearted, spontaneous, personal in- 
terest left in life? Such suppression of 
self, whether we allow it to be done by 
unsympathetic parents, or monotonous 
conditions of life, or the mechanical na- 
ture of our work, since the counterpart 
of such submissive selfishness in us is 
exaggerated and unrestrained selfishness 
in those who are thus permitted to rob us 
of our selfhood, is just as far removed 
as positive selfishness in ourselves from 
the generous and joyous Quest of the 
Best. Both are deadly sins. 
155 



THE QUI U OP I III Bl ST 

(I 
que i them honet 

. 
thai lie* fall i the 

it man] if notn l f ( net. 

I u them in ^ ond m ; 

;i\ ef I . when 

there 9 ! d . • 

guiltily ^ lean? I > i nevei 

never drink ex< epi when con- 

u and 
ll"W youi lea D 
never wu\ ral- 

othen d h excel and qu 
amusement, or imp 
and the 

D irk 

lei it 
• ash you? D 

h thai -nl, In 

md the claii 

• 
:i it thai lea thing be youi I I 



MISSING THE BEST 



fool enough to sacrifice a larger thing 
for a smaller, even though that smaller 
thing be to escape being called a coward? 
Are you never willingly false to facts, 
or false to the persons to whom and about 
whom you tell them? Do you never try 
to cheat others, or let any one cheat you 
if you can prevent it? Do you never 
postpone the work of to-day until to- 
morrow, or anticipate the trouble of to- 
morrow to-day? Do you never leave 
things lying around in the way, nor make 
your fussiness a nuisance to other per- 
sons? Do you never bring unpleasant 
topics into your conversation when they 
are uncalled for, nor leave them out 
when they need to be discussed? Do 
you never make bad manners an offense, 
nor good manners a cloak for insincerity? 
Do you never seek a quarrel, nor allow 
yourself to be run over to avoid one? 
Do you never try to get out of the com- 
munity or country any private advantage 
at the expense of the public, or permit 
others to do so without your protest? Do 
157 



E QUI EST 

than the worth of ill 

1 1 
^ him no harm i i anj woman 1 ! life, nor 
leave ah the ii 

Do you will im evil 
: take .ill | 

their ur- 

! I ilth 

; happ and lil 

!i w h red tl 

n 1 refuse t«> let 
man wan( impai i w n? I ) i 

i nevei t your | 

ren Lift It pic 

linsi tl 

lo\\ 

hold and inter- 

heap in comp; with be 

r in tl 

the- ell al 

\\ ! 



MISSING THE BEST 



"guilty" to any or all of these questions 
so far falls short of the Best, and makes 
confession of sin. 

The sense of sin is a very different 
experience from the natural badness with 
which the boy starts. Natural badness 
is impulsive, immediate; and the boy 
who is naturally bad does not measure 
-himself by any standard higher than im- 
mediate impulse. The higher standard, 
the Best for others and for all as well 
as for himself, at first has to be forced 
upon him as an alien thing. This as 
we saw is the wholesome function of 
punishment; wholesome, that is, so far as 
it goes, but requiring to be supplemented 
at the earliest possible moment with the 
presentation of the Best as something 
not alien, imposed from without; but as 
the supreme Quest which the boy should 
accept as his own, and in which he 
should freely engage. Until he accepts 
as his own the Quest of the Best, he can 
have no sense of missing it; no sense of 
sin. Mistakes, blunders, he may make; 

159 



Till QUI w OP l 111 HI W 

but be will 

until he 

i< t of natural ; », bui in the 1 

a ith the Besi 

1 ! 
Tli- wc Ii en all al 

nc thing, bul nv thii 

in r hicfa t! 
rhe print iple, I Jure, is 
tlu in all i but the tppli 

•:t in tan h 

• th.it • :. Ru vcr 

all the I | 

the- general in which the Best 

isually found The 

w ill COOK t<> the kf; the 

1 1 v 

him 

wli | where tl 

:i w hat in th 

th- 



MISSING THE BEST 



Since the Best is this nice adjustment 
to all the interests of self, others, and 
society that are involved in each particu- 
lar situation, the boy is not likely to 
stumble upon it by his own unaided 
efforts; nor to learn it out of a book in 
school. Even with intimate personal 
guidance he will get only flashes of it 
here and there from time to time. Not 
until hundreds of times he has felt, now 
at this point, now at that, the rebuke of 
what he has done by the vision of what 
he ought to have done in the interest of 
all concerned, will the principle of al- 
ways seeking the Best for all, rise, and 
that dimly and vaguely at first, out of 
these "muddy particulars." 

Who shall bring to the boy this Quest 
of the Best? Who shall walk by his 
side; live in his life; share intimately 
his confidence; so that no thought, no 
word, no deed shall spring up in him 
and go forth from him, without being 
more or less consciously challenged by 
the vision of what would be Best for self, 
161 



/•/// QUI w OF mi 

!. ind condemi 
as sin if ii 
Th 

our next chapter mail 



it>: 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE AND THE SOCIAL 
MEDIUM 

WE have seen that boys are par- 
donably bad by nature; and 
can't be made thoroughly 
good by constraint. We have also seen 
that there is no moral good short of 
the Quest of the Best; that that is 
difficult; and that the ways to miss it 
both by excess and defect are easy and 
broad. How then shall the boy be al- 
lured to this hard up-hill Quest; kept 
in it when discouragements overtake 
him; brought back to it when he has 
gone astray? Two aids are essential: 
First, a friend or group of friends who 
are in the Quest themselves, and invite 
him to join them in it. Second, a social 
medium, a set of common interests, 
which the friend already in the Quest 

163 



/'/// QUI W OF I III 

th the I m he would ■• 

The grctt rirtoei :i linen, 

truthfulness, effit :lniess, 

: the most | 
mere emptj wn die boy until he 

has been p tual 

where he t an m ind ih 

in 
mself and to oth< 
en these virtue* and their op| 
piently the parent, teacher, or 
w In) will lea 
• ; e A it, musl share * ith him, if 
:i a< tual life, at I in lite 
tute Eij ex] 

i -lit these difl 

ally n the 

H skillful trail : and the 

I r the | the 

ad the home 
im in which the i 
ind itl 

• 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

the parent who is to do this work must 
really care above all else that the son 
shall be, not merely entertained, or edu- 
cated, or rich, but a seeker and servant 
of the Best. And the home to encourage 
this enlistment must be a home where 
there is real give and take, where there 
are real chores to do, sacrifices to make, 
and trials to bear and share; not a home 
where wealth and servants provide 
amusement and comfort without effort 
and sacrifice on the part of the boy. 

Teachers and schools, especially teach- 
ers and schools which have the life and 
the play as well as the mere intellectual 
work of the boys in charge for long 
periods of time, can do much to save 
boys who come from homes demoralized 
by riches and idleness. Teachers in the 
public schools also can do a good deal 
for boys whose parents suffer from the 
hardness and preoccupation which too 
often go with poverty, and who have 
not the time or talent to train their boys. 
School does not touch life at more than 
165 



THE Ql l ST OF I III Bl 57 

.it the 

these i 

nesi tboul i hanu tc 

. . . . 

i oourt jen- 

■ i at t! : I will 

ipn 

f \\ rong 

tin- ju 11 r t judge and th 

bati< n t i tii mm h Fof all 

Chi • •• \- 

tarv. the S M *| club 

he for them n< 

tvpol lurni but th 

tid maintain ipfa utoal 

enter; 

on ■ Ice the np- 

teams, even 

in home or ( lub, 

the m ad holdi the in- 

motl I 
166 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 



him, and whose love he desires to retain, 
who is ardently engaged in the Quest 
of the Best, and will admit him to full 
approval, sympathy, fellowship, affec- 
tion on no easier or lower terms than that 
he too, in spite of obstacles mountain- 
high, in spite of sins unspeakably low, 
shall maintain for himself and share 
with those who love him, this glorious 
Quest. 

The sharing of a social medium is 
essential. For the Best is unique. It 
cannot be reduced to rule, or learned by 
heart, once for all. The parent, teacher 
or leader must talk over with the boy 
each situation as it arises, giving entire 
confidence, and securing his in return. 
Nothing less than sympathy on the one 
side can win frankness on the other. 

Furthermore there must be freedom. 
As was pointed out in the second chapter, 
there is a stage in the training of the 
boy when constraint is in order; w T hen 
the parent or teacher gives the command, 
and the son or pupil must obey. But 

167 



//// Q( / W OP I ill Hi ST 

as WC Saw (hen, idi- 

meotai 

h wc ran the !><>> into 

1 "Ut 

natural 

he well in it, we musi 

• 
The fatal mistake • t ras 
•l I teac I. 
rudiment 

the g k k in 

the mud oi i n 

the 
much 

the parent 

intent to ha. 
mentai 

. arc the inevitable fr; 

ittempted rej a- I ' rent 

I her w ho w ill 

Best mti bim 

•in jutf : jtlSl 

in 

i 10 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

about this or that," the wise parent or 
teacher virtually says, "but I shall not 
be pleased with you, we shall not have 
the truest fellowship and friendship, un- 
less you do what on the whole, after full 
and fair discussion, you and I agree is 
the Best." A victory for the Best, won 
through such frankness and freedom, is 
worth more in the development of real 
character than a thousand acts of coerced 
conformity. 

One objection to all this will occur 
to the reader. Who is good enough 
to be such a mediator in frankness and 
freedom between the Best and the boy? 
Are there not points at which we fall 
sadly below the eager idealism of the 
boy; points at which he is farther along 
than we? And will not such a dis- 
covery prove fatal to our influence 
over him? Yes, we have not attained 
the Best, and at many points we have 
scarcely begun the Quest. Yet if we are 
genuinely humble; if we acknowledge 
frankly our failings when he discovers 

169 



THE Ql I 5 //// /;/ ST 

the idmit I 

t u hei iiKi 

hcarf really in- 
•i the 
make in the future, 

have littl .ill 

illlllU 

and hold him. 
P these 

attempt impli 

entmenl of I 

t.il. 
A parent oi teacher ittem] 

'ghul up" tl when he 

•mpli- 

: v and humiliating term-, 1- 
•. w hatever powei 
ht od 

N parent or teacher 

Quest 
which he I himself Tl 

tted ■ 

( the parent, teaeher 

the ; 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

closer to him through the sense of a 
common human infirmity. 

The necessity of this personal touch 
in a social medium which parent or 
teacher or leader share with the boy in 
perfect frankness and freedom will be- 
come clear if once more, and for the 
last time, we run through our score of 
specific ethical relations. 

Not until he cares for some one else, 
who cares for him, does the boy give 
serious attention to his personal appear- 
ance. As a passion this regard for per- 
sonal appearance is often begotten in 
the boy by his devotion to some girl of 
his own age or a little older. But as 
a principle, including a purpose to 
please others for their own sakes by neat 
and attractive personal appearance, it 
is due usually to the parents, and a grad- 
ual growth into their desire to make 
home a delight both to permanent mem- 
bers and occasional guests; or to some 
teacher who has the art to infuse into 
the scholars this regard for personal 

171 



UES1 EST 

.in a du the tcac her, the 

•la[N .1 I ; <>r I 

let 

■ • 

the in£ 

' | licit 

anht| | 

W\ it, to 

thai t! 
• 
pearai 

: thai they In 

• tgether w ith suffic ieni 

intinuk v. indud 

tmou pie 
tin lal appearaiK 

and i the 

nd wA 

I 
■ 
pathet 

■ 

who in attention t 

the 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

boys and expects their Best from them 
at their frequent and intimate meetings, 
and in their interesting and shared pur- 
suits, are the indispensable agencies for 
developing a proper regard for personal 
appearance. 

Common meals, in the home with par- 
ents and elder brothers and sisters, or 
camping out, or in the club with an 
admired leader, are obviously the only 
way in which greediness and gluttony 
can be, not merely repressed, but eradi- 
cated, and a generous and courteous con- 
sideration for others, as well as a pru- 
dent control of self, established in their 
place. 

Passing the saloon together; frank 
discussion of the reasons for and against 
the use of narcotics and stimulants ; shar- 
ing together good times which have as 
much comfortableness and good fellow- 
ship without liquor as those who habit- 
ually use it find in it, are the price a par- 
ent or leader must pay who will lead 
the boy, not merely to the repressed re- 

173 



Till Ql ' r 

bui i 

UCh total I limi- 

I 10 
i health 

I h.ippirus-, the 

nfluen 
incloding i illy 
who have I 
rable cn- 
Kiem than himself True temj 

• 
real 01 
is ! I thou 

e thui m s a 

iihk h ind m 

lasting thing than the mere pi 
I drinking i 
od in id pli bal 

it falll vrrv fat ihoil of true tempc 

•r the dooi of the I <>n 

the athletic field ai ( 

through which all conten I ami pass 

the fit granite 

174 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

the motto, "FAIR PLAY AND MAY 
THE BEST MAN WIN." The only 
way that sentiment can be made effective 
in the hearts and lives, the sports and 
games of boys is having leaders who, 
sharing with them that sentiment, at 
the same time maintain a competent 
leadership in those sports and games. 
Preaching it from a pulpit or teaching 
it from a platform goes but a little 
way, and utterly breaks down under 
the strain of fierce competition. Some 
one whom the boy cares for, and who 
cares for him, in this special interest and 
activity, must come so close down to 
him, and yet be so high above mean 
trickery and unfair advantage and bru- 
tality of all kinds, that the boy cannot 
have both these two — the leader and the 
trickery, the friend and the brutality — 
and will prefer the friend and the fair 
play together, since he cannot have them 
apart. If we want the Best in play we 
cannot expect it to spring up sponta- 
neously in the boy's nature at times of 
175 



mi oues: r/ii 

■ 
t ch 

s 

and ke the B th him 

c the Quell diem 

h. 

The pcrpl 
questional tly 

ments, n them, but die 

good and 

them 1 the 

their I 

u thej let taski and 

I to go ani ' do them. John 
Mill, PoIi( 

thai whether 

her he 
B 

: nrk 
punish- 

rnent will 

I 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

can learn thoroughness, faithfulness, 
maximum efficiency, and disinterested 
devotion is by having some one who does 
his work that way, work side by side 
with them, giving generous approval 
when they try to do their Best, and 
frankly criticising all that falls below. 
By identifying himself with both good 
work and the boy, he becomes the living 
link between them. 

Nothing less than spending common 
money for common objects, or talking 
over confidentially with parent or leader 
the spending of private money, will give 
a boy the power to strike the happy 
mean between stinginess and extrava- 
gance, and enable him to meet justly, 
generously and proportionately all the 
individual and social claims upon his 
purse. Even his mistakes when con- 
fessed and discussed help the boy to wise 
saving, giving and spending, much more 
than depriving him of spending money, 
or dictating how he shall spend it. 
Keeping a cash account, which is often 
177 



rill QUI W OF Tlf) 
i to lj ing tnd 

when rut 

ent, due uhcfi 

v II- 

npathet ml parent 

fric \cr, motl 

the 

t the ! read] * k h 

die parent 01 frit 
may raggetl 1 1 in- 

fluence i- m direct ; inti- 

mi t where the in- 

fluence 

The high art 

rth more than some thii 
and those 

thii than other 

thingl and alw i <>r 1 

parted only r ht 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

if possible in actuality, at least in liter- 
ature and conversation, and come to a 
mutual understanding of what each 
would expect the other to do in all sorts 
of dangers, risks, attacks, and crises. 
Only on the firm basis of such a mutual 
understanding of what each would do, 
and expect the other to do, as a condi- 
tion of retaining each other's admiration 
and friendship, can the courage that will 
risk every time anything less than the 
Best for the sake of the Best, be commu- 
nicated from one person to, another. 

Truthfulness, if it is to be truthful- 
ness to both facts and persons, not merely 
enforced and conventional truth to im- 
personal facts, is likewise born of the 
Spirit; communicated from one who is 
sensitive to the immense social impor- 
tance of our being able to believe each 
other's statements, to the boy who of him- 
self otherwise would have no such con- 
ception. 

A man, w T ho, save for one fatal slip, 
has lived a good life, comes to your 

179 



I'll! , /// Bl 57 

I let: g all the 

fit • general good <. hara< t' 

i.it.il slip, ttcf repentaiM e. hii firm 

li\ e .in upright life in the 
i\L-v • the 

go< unp.u ked| the 

the vil wnei rod 

nk r hcth an) thing at 

itrangt r; if to, * hat ; and in pai 
: w hetb< r you know anj 

i mi how to answer 
mi in mid you le. 

it fiom then) it it A t rily 

chance truthful in tha 

i umttancet, tnw 

. . in \ 

all the in- 
the 

j kin : and 

than I) 
i whai ii the I 
the litual all things, the ican- 

al intent 
180 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

would show him how to be true to him- 
self, true to the man who gave the letter, 
true to the person involved, and true 
to the false nature of the scandal monger. 
To teach a boy the higher truthfulness, 
so that he can be true to himself and to 
all concerned, not only in simple ordi- 
nary situations, but in delicate and 
critical situations like this, implies great 
intimacy, perfect confidence and con- 
siderable courage. Not one boy in ten 
thousand in the United States is taught 
such truthfulness. In the crisis, he will 
either do a gross wrong on the supposi- 
tion that he is doing right, or he will do 
what is substantially right under the con- 
viction that he is doing wrong. If the 
boy is to know how to tell the Best in 
the way of truth, he must learn it by 
sympathy from some one who has been 
in such difficult situations, and come out 
of them with a heart unhardened, a con- 
science unviolated, a tongue unpolluted 
with either consent to inflict a wanton 
injury or violate a confidence, on the 

181 



//// i /// /:/ 53 

hand, 
n the 

W th a * ; 

— a desire which lie u 

I thei 

the truth lie will (ell 
thil m US, .u:: 

much i *m- 

al attit 

ild .i n 
r the kej ntended i 

hamber, tliat 1. : it entt 

kill him The I truth 

tween right-minded, socially il 

men. Between iu< h no departun 

fa< t ii perm ez< usable Hut in 

I ith DM men, like mur- 

idal m nd in 

who ai 

art from literal t 
tmeni doei wn 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

truthfulness of the literal sort in all ordi- 
nary cases; and when one has admitted 
the possible exception and seeks not con- 
formity to a rule, but the Quest of the 
Best, he is on the way to a higher truth- 
fulness than the rule can impart, or the 
boy could ever discover for himself. 
Show a boy that you always give the 
person with whom you are talking all 
the facts his attitude toward others en- 
title him to receive, and that you exclude 
from the pale of such mutual obligation, 
the insane, the extremely sick, and the 
malicious, and you will give him, if he 
cares enough for you to take what you 
have to give, a workable truthfulness; 
one which is not inconsistent with other 
virtues you desire him to develop. 

If a boy is to gain a genuine respect 
for the rights of himself, his fellows and 
society in property, he must first of all 
from early boyhood have property of his 
own, in the shape of an allowance, earn- 
ings, playthings, animals, a garden, or a 
savings bank account; and he must have 

183 



thai propertj i 

parenti and S me one prh 

• must ihare mth li 

ip, and the pr 
men l Ei ii | 
musi let him into the and pi 

lemi ol die familj budg . and 

rapidl] npletelj .1- hii ma- 

turing judgment pen The] must 

lei him much pi 

hardship th< will nndei 

rather than take anything dial 
rather than 1 
• 

I Iittl er than take unfair I 

• 

a i usi >mer, an empl 
A b -\ who really and intimately ihai 

afidencei at 

I the rc- 

t mar. \ i 

hai the itart I 
the home i e him ; >\nA if be 

1 in indler, 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

cheat, his parents are fully as much to 
blame as the boy. 

For boys whose parents do not thus 
share their honesty with their boys the 
teacher can do a little by encouraging 
and enforcing, as the price of her full 
respect, honesty about public and private 
property in connection with school. But 
the chief supplement to the parents' 
neglect, must come from the club leader 
or other friend who comes close enough 
to talk over with the boy the ways and 
means he can and cannot approve for 
acquiring property. 

Such a leader or friend, by his just 
and generous desire to protect every man 
in the enjoyment of his hard-earned 
property; by his scorn to take anything 
he has not honestly earned or acquired; 
by his insisting as a condition of their 
mutual respect and confidence that the 
boy shall do the same, will pass his own 
honesty over to the boy without his 
knowing how, when, or perhaps even 
from whom he acquired it. 

185 



THE QUI 57 OF i HI HI 57 

At the amc time 

murd( to h 

. \s ill he n » nii.i 1 

the righti of tl ai nm h. 

but and interests 

h will he -> intclli- 

I, that in extreme 

a ill know vrheu 

; why to appropriate pi dial 

m, in a higher 
the human and 

• • For insi 

• 

the | 
\\\\ mething known i 

• 

ndment, I iharing the 

in all pi . rcl.it: nil with 

faintesi tw 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

science afterward. Such exceptions to 
the formal rule of honesty, like excep- 
tions to the rules against lying and mur- 
der, are extremely rare; but a principle 
must be broad enough to include both 
usual rule and rare exception; and this 
nothing less than the Quest of the Best, 
shared with one whom the boy admires, 
trusts and loves, will impart and sustain. 
To fill each moment of time with ener- 
getic action or happy recreation, or rest- 
ful leisure, according as the one or the 
other will be Best for our own perma- 
nent interests, and the interests of all 
whose lives we share and serve, is a 
fine balance of interests which no boy 
ever learned of himself, or ever will 
learn except from some one whose life 
is equally removed from foolish haste 
and slothful rest. There is no rule for 
the Best in the use of time — that precious 
stuff of which life is made. It comes 
only as the eager personal and wide 
social interests of which time should 
be full are shared with some one who 

187 



Till QUI W or Till. Ill ST 

in the 
deli making each moment 

fill i: e and fulfill id fu 

Order in the arrangement ol thin 
mainlj in the iam< No I 

born \n ith it and n<> rule 

it It the home ii 
and moderai y learn it 

there. I ! he e.m he apprentN 
e business man, who Ii 

1 in alpha'; r, anil 

e\ ei j fat t about hia businesi on i 

m\ bring it 
a minute 9 ! n die boj may learn it 

there I learn I i merit- and 

limita; master « and 

tails, \et not tie oneself up in red t 
\\ hile d( ting lition of ha; 

wh n nevei be tau . rule 

j rote, but w\ prill 

k up tl admii 

a man v, terful- 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

with him the secret and method by 
which he maintains this far-reaching yet 
instantaneous control over the affairs 
committed to his hands. 

Refinement in speech can never be 
learned except by talking with one who 
is refined, and learning by experience 
that only the clean and fine ever re- 
ceives his appreciation or toleration. To 
live much and on intimate terms with 
one who is always on the lookout for 
beautiful things to see, noble thoughts 
to share, gentle words to speak, yet who 
can on occasion be plain and frank about 
disagreeable things when they have to be 
dealt with; — this is the only escape from 
vulgarity, the only door to refinement in 
the use of that troublesome member, the 
tongue. 

Manners, so closely related to speech, 
are acquired in the same way. They 
can't be learned out of a book, but only 
by watching and sharing the courteous 
man's constant effort to make those he 
meets happy, entertained, and at ease by 

189 



THE Ql i T 

w hat I 

and I i manners, I 

and 

the 
who 

I art 

I bearing 
their btful v. and 

are, b 
entt and I md friends, I 

1 lest, and onlj 

itantly f 
thai a make the b nan, 

1 1 n, in die home, h.r. 

the- moth I patient i in 

mannen put to na father who 

lame i 
1 1 :iv tif i the other bind, 

h.i\ 

the If politeneti and 

km I i \ e we leefl the 

:her I poitlll 

.i nan emess. 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

How refreshing, on the other hand, it 
is to see a parent who has wholly as- 
sumed the great responsibility of mak- 
ing a man out of a boy, who has made 
his home a boy's home, and made him- 
self a boy again, who never dares to rest 
a minute from his task, but lives nobly 
and unselfishly that the boy may grow 
up with the idea that there is no other 
way for a real man to live. Such a man 
feels the boy's quick response, and in 
voluntary acts of politeness to mother or 
sister proudly sees the signs of grow- 
ing manhood. Such politeness, we know, 
is not mere imitation, it is the boy's 
silent acceptance of his father's way of 
doing. Such a training, we are sure, 
will stand the strain. Such influences 
make deep impressions on the forming 
character, and slowly but surely will 
point the way in the boy's life to that 
Best of which we would have him 
always in Quest. 

A boy will never overcome the natural 
instinct to pick a quarrel, or at least to 

191 



//// w 01 I Hi BEST 

nc when do so 

the imalti ind 

UIllc^ he - .me .\ ho 

hti d nd l« 

ent. ft while 

op and fight for I 
when iii- li ncerned that be 

tarn 
a s<>tt tniwei n hei 

> me< - w :th kiniinen 

wh' : kindnesa will qoi be misoDder- 

and imp If 

lharei the l 

habitnall] tent 

tfa a kindly regard for the happin 

all pa; • he w ill KC that 

h an attitude much m 

I well ai m 
table, that he will gradually and 

AH 

I mmun 

r man t | he 10 

much and braver an 

than :• rural t<» he, that nnlcss the 

bo> and feeli t 1 (train an 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

of sacrifice for these political purposes 
on the part of father, brother or older 
companion, he is not likely to take the 
arduous and costly side of an issue on 
which public welfare and private inter- 
est or inclination conflict. On the other 
hand, if the parent, teacher or friend 
lives strenuously for his country, and 
lets the boy see and feel the sacrifice 
he habitually makes of time, money, 
popularity, whenever the interests of his 
country call for it, the boy will grow 
up public-spirited and patriotic without 
knowing when or how he ever came to 
do so. Neither bribes, nor graft, nor 
power, nor influence, nor party pressure 
can make such a boy betray his com- 
munity or country. 

The surest way for a boy to learn to 
take a just and modest view of his own 
importance is to come close to some 
really big, strong man, who does big, 
hard things the boy admires but could 
not begin to do, yet thinks and says noth- 
ing of them. From such a man a boy 

193 



Till Ql I I 

UlU 

I thai 
w bai he ii 01 hai done m real 

i th, bul rathei the 

pi hat he ii not, and l hal 

ks, an Rrhal I 

It rcqu man v 

nol knovi ! 

th the I 
these i just 

(m n pi 

enuinc in thought and 

* h and a< l l 

u i .:t .ill, to the 

Ider boy 01 
man who ii tl ; :'.\. transparent 

frankl] n and rent in atti- 

ard w i j talk 

lit, a I 

the 

divine lac 

. tlu- iham * n, the 

.. that punish il 
i, and he \\ ill fin up 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

within him the same reverent, chival- 
rous, sensible attitude toward these holy 
functions and sacred relations. Books 
and lectures to boys in the mass on these 
subjects run the risk of stimulating with- 
out satisfying curiosity, and developing 
morbid and exaggerated preoccupation 
with these subjects; though even that 
risk is often worth taking, as far less dan- 
gerous than ignorance, or perverse sug- 
gestion. But frank, friendly talk of in- 
dividual parent or friend with the in- 
dividual boy, on a level of positive and 
confessed reverence, is the price we must 
be ready to pay for making the boy 
pure in heart, and chivalrous in thought 
and act. 

Magnanimity, the power to feel and 
think, speak and act kindly to those 
who have been unkind to us, is so far 
above anything implanted in the boy 
by nature, that his only chance of ac- 
quiring it is to share the experience 
with parent or friend who has it, and 
let his wonder at it, and dawning ad- 

195 



Till . /// /;/ ST 

mil it, v. 

mil d heart Every ol 

perton h I iu< h magnanimitj 

it t or po] friend 

let the 1:. the 

ich intimate, confidential 
p, thai the itch it 

m him. Tin tther v ren 

tmong men w h 

m the petty and mea* less 

which i| n natural to him, into a noble 
nanimitv. 

The only rom 

murder, the dthy kind of mur- 

der which k by dag 

ver, but by ti 

eratenen, unkindna 

I mother, or I friend who has 
I nature, the habit 
the health, happin 

kes 
in c\ 
g And ittaining; not l 

h ha- 
bitual thoughtfulneti 

196 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

by contagion from one who has it, is the 
only alternative to, the only effective 
preventive of that indifference and hate 
which is murder in the heart, and in its 
slow cumulative effect becomes murder 
in outward act. 

Since the Best is that fine, definite ad- 
justment to a situation which conserves 
in proportion to their worth and claim 
the interests of self, others, and society, 
it involves the sacrifice of every other 
possible adjustment; the sacrifice of 
every interest and claim, personal, social, 
altruistic, which is less than the Best. 
The price of the Best is of necessity 
the sacrifice of all competing claims. 
That is why sacrifice is the most com- 
prehensive form of righteousness; why 
the symbol of Christianity is the cross. 

Sacrifice in this broad, comprehensive 
sense, the giving up of minor competing 
goods in each specific situation, is utterly 
contrary to nature; incapable of being 
induced by threats and penalties. There- 
fore the only way it can be induced is 

197 



THE QUI F THE Hi 57 

lly \ 

ul and 

ind 
r it in him ihall beget the 

it in 

their 
ll their 
• their 

tually li\ 
• and leti ne the 

that in etc h 

all 

into the I l I 

others, m\A 

• 

memh that w hi( h all 

I in pi theif inter 

mi the I > c - 1 the 
; kn-»\\n fell in ill ti 

the 
Ml will pass into the 
Dd that is what we OK 

t I mean. 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

The man who, in this vital, ethical 
sense, will help save a boy, must him- 
self be the biggest and best type of man. 
To sum up his character in terms of our 
score of relations: — he will have a 
decent but not fastidious regard for his 
personal appearance; he will eat up to 
but not beyond the limit of maximum 
efficiency; he will cut his drink down 
to the point where it represents good- 
fellowship, not merely to the crowd he 
is with at the time, but to all whether 
weak or strong who directly or indirectly 
are influenced by his example; he will 
play up to the point of keeping his 
whole nature, enthusiasm for hard work 
included, at the highest development; 
and work with all the might he can put 
into it short of impairing his power for 
better work later; he will give gen- 
erously time, money, influence, up to the 
point where giving more would inter- 
fere with his own and his family's ca- 
pacity to fill their specific place and 
perform their appointed function; he 
199 



will f ( 

hin and itraini 

life an»l 

. ill tell die truth franklj 

all wlni | • with- 

will hold the ; in 

i exchange 

d, jrel hold life and honor in 

extreme rhethef 

mother's; he will keep 

engagementi promptly, unless lome 

break them; he will k 

thing! in when 

the time Hi 

: he will be refined in h and 

it blunt and i ken when 

ible thema have to be di 

with; he will I r as - 

• with polite tblC 

wht | had <>n 

al claim 
itfa die higher loyalty 

200 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

to country and humanity; modest with- 
out self-depreciation; chivalrous without 
prudery; magnanimous to enemies, with- 
out weakly submitting to be run over; 
devoted to the life, health and happiness 
of all with whom he lives, yet refusing 
to let their selfishness crush the life out 
of him; sacrificial of all lesser things to 
his own highest usefulness; and of him- 
self, usefulness and all, to every larger 
claim, whether of family, fellow-men, 
country, or humanity. 

The man who will win boys to the 
Quest of the Best must aim to be all this 
and more ; and he must share with them 
both his aim and their interests so fully 
and freely and frankly that they cannot 
help feeling that the Best which they 
admire and love in him is also the Best 
for themselves; the revelation and incar- 
nation of what with his inspiration they 
hope and strive to become. 

Here where ethics leave off, religion 
begins. Through this devotion to hu- 
man parent, teacher, leader, friend, the 
201 



THk Ql i 

pltio to dial l) md 

the pci feet Fad ( i. and 

me It Int<> that 

fori 
cm . th.it u ithool in 

rc-1 i :; ; u - 

•nent, 

eth ti mil dr\ op at die 

little. ( >n the other hand, 

however, mthon! i ip< etc, 

ethi< al pi It practical ippli 

i remains but an unsightly 
:k w ith d litlesi bran< I 

tit only foi the 6 l igfa im- 

;. trail boman friendship 

the rnal fellowihip with the 

l • . and with ! S fetus CI 
and h thai higher common 

h just luch practical virtues and 
.1- wn hi 

• : ritual life 

i h eth 

hut u able l. 



THE PERSONAL MOTIVE 

t 

Between ethics, the fulfillment of the 
personal possibilities involved in each 
situation as it arises in life, and religion, 
the devotion of life as a whole to the 
perpetual service of God, there is an 
important social sphere in which society 
provides certain conditions which are 
essential if all boys, especially the chil- 
dren of the poor in cities, are to have 
a fair chance for that all-round develop- 
ment at which both ethics and religion 
aim. These contributions which society 
collectively should make will occupy the 
concluding chapter. 



203 



VI 
Till- lUkTHki'.m 01 TH1 ( hud 

IN bef pi I ; P | I leph- 

inc I Pcab Ij hai the qu< 

:i put t0 dlC DM • r 1 c \ 

' II.*:.;' 
" W hit' 1 blood, what ire tl :s of 

1 I lamella, while i: 

'I 
| 

I ufering | 

- til imi 

and the 
Witl . all-triumphini 

I 
And mil 

:i if m B — 

.ild." 

I r the fii it time in die : I the 

:!i. the t .tury il putting 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

the question : "What is that creature that 
they call a child?" And we are beginning 
to get from as many different quarters 
half a dozen answers, which, taken to- 
gether, constitute the most distinctive, 
fundamental, promising and far-reach- 
ing reform launched in this century. 

My purpose in this concluding chap- 
ter is to bring to a focus in a single pic- 
ture these features which hitherto have 
been scattered in the proceedings of half 
a dozen different organizations. 

CHILD LABOR 

First, with reference to child labor. 
What is that creature that they call a 
child? We know what he has been in 
the Georgia cotton mill, at work more 
than sixty hours a week under twelve 
years of age; so small he could reach his 
work only by climbing up; in the tene- 
ments of our largest city making violets at 
three cents a gross; cutting out embroid- 
ery edging at one cent an hour; making 
baby dresses at forty-two cents a day 

205 



//// r 

Wit tl wn 

tj where the 

•.in in- 

pvhich per 

ceni • the 

icy 

able bur 
• - iumphani 1 had im| 

Th e the child 

! make the futui 

wll.lt l 

mature and 

injuriooi 

hildrea I m the 

jain- 

late 

un- 
ven 
In 19 
1 
ft)-- the re the ; 

nir 

nion I 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

t m 

the child against industrial exploita- 
tion is simply marvelous. Every right- 
minded and intelligent person is now 
alive to the evils which until a decade 
ago passed almost unchallenged; and the 
public is coming to agree in general 
upon a program endorsed by the Com- 
missioners on Uniform State Laws, the 
essential features of which are as fol- 
lows: 

Children under fourteen shall be prohibited from 
working in factories, workshops, stores and a list 
of specified employments; and in any business or 
service whatever while the schools are in session. 

Children under sixteen shall not be allowed to 
work in occupations or positions dangerous to life 
or limb, or injurious to health or morals: and, in 
addition to processes prohibited by statute the 
Board of Health shall have authority to include 
others which they find to be dangerous or injurious. 

Children under sixteen years of age shall not be 
employed without presenting an employment cer- 
tificate, showing that they are over fourteen years 
of age, of normal development, and in sufficiently 
sound health; that they have attended school and 
completed a course of study equivalent to five yearly 
grades in reading, spelling, writing, English lan- 

207 



rill Ql I ST OF THE BEST 

a ith the 
: in- 

bildren luded f. r 

srs still DH 

rum 

limr to in? 

ind- 
mcni unless the 

far as tl; irnt allows. 

iall 

iDOffC tl ays in a 

i day Off !>< I 

in tl 

- s ami 
tha: 

k, n<»r more than t 

a in 
I 

In ■ , • son 

und a messe 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

before five in the morning or after ten in the eve- 
ning. 

No boy under twelve and no girl under sixteen 
shall sell papers or periodicals in streets or public 
places. No boy under fourteen or girl under six- 
teen shall be employed in other street trades. 
No boy under sixteen shall sell papers or engage in 
street trades without a permit or badge certifying 
age, normal development, physical fitness, and 
school attendance. 

All of these provisions shall be supported by a 
sufficient number of competent officers and inspec- 
tors, and enforced by appropriate penalties. 

These laws represent the best yet at- 
tained in any state, and have been en- 
dorsed by the Commissioners on Uni- 
form State Laws at their 21st annual 
meeting in Boston, August 26, 191 1 ; and 
thus in addition to the endorsement of 
the National Child Labor Committee, 
have the endorsement of a representative 
body of leading lawyers from all parts 
of the country. 

Reduced to their essential terms this 
proposed uniform law gives freedom 
from competitive industry, commercial 
209 



THE Ql ESI 01 I III III ST 

I iul\ ] I, up 

m 
houi i 

health 01 m 
indamcntal e ind 

mal health u 

.ment. .u up 

hteen, and where 
twentj 

g cm | 

thai -I bral era 

. the manufac tu 
ploymeni 

ht mi- 

I nu ii << hild ' don t 1 

only three plausible objei 

I • dial work if hcttcr than i 
But the qnestionj ihall 

t between work and idle- 
prematui 

the 

nal 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

influence in clubs and associations, on the 
other hand. 

Second: It costs something. Yes; our 
coal and cotton cloth, our canned goods 
and our communication may cost a trifle 
more if children are protected as these 
child labor laws propose. But when we 
think what it would mean to have our 
own child shut out from play and school, 
fresh air and sunshine, health and 
growth, or exposed to dangerous or de- 
moralizing occupations in tender years, 
every one of us is willing to pay the 
trifle additional on all the articles from 
the manufacture of which we propose 
to exclude the premature and injurious 
forms of child labor. 

Third: It is urged with much real or 
affected feeling that it will bring hard- 
ship to sick fathers and widowed mothers 
who absolutely need the labor of young 
children for the support of the family. 
It is true that there are a certain propor- 
tion of cases where the proposed and 
even the already enacted child labor 
211 



//// 01 / w 01 mi Bl w 
l.iw i work iu< h hardship, 1 1 ii n«»t, 

. . illy 

Of 1,696 child in 

ad 1 5 
i eat had fathen I ind 

ii work and tlu- .>•. mc 

1 : dim ii unempl 

mcni among adult ( 1 famil 

L WCW putt 

children to work from 1 

lit] 1 goo i hildren empl 66 

wei have widowed modM 

I in the hil- 

ry 1 ; support. 
; w here tin abounds, L r moi h 

on •!. And already private phi- 
[anthi 1 • public charity 11 
and should 

. in tlu 
industrial itantial 

the wa^es the except: 

rn during the 
the child labor lawi keep him ai -ehool 
and at pi 

The anSW ill the 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

must be a public opinion which rates the 
physical, mental, economic and moral 
welfare of our future citizens worth 
more than the output of a machine, the 
fraction of a dividend, or an infinitesimal 
increase of the cost of living. 

INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 

With reference to education, "What 
is that creature that they call a child?" 

With the movement from country to 
city, from farm to factory, from hand- 
made to machine-made products., the 
manual and industrial training which 
our school system when established was 
able to presuppose as supplied in the 
home and on the farm, or could at least 
count upon as coming later through the 
apprentice system, is no longer supplied 
either before or after schooling; either 
in school or out. To be sure during the 
last thirty-five years there has arisen the 
demand for, and to some extent the sup- 
ply of, manual training in the public 
schools. But that sprang from an ab- 
213 



:1. rather thi 

latent I thcr t ; 

ntndi ol the 

anil defio 

t h c - 

• i natu die m 

tnent lias been mm b I and 

e\t than die amount 

talk and equipment 

lei t 

[ndusti 
fit children to do die work of the world 
It I that what man doei to un! 

the mate: nature, or the industrial 

ftftS, are ; w hat 

hv. 
Corwriu t:ve WOtk lfl< -lib! 

t all si It 

ap| 

interest in d It 

will and In- 
tel] 

hool an (1 
useful r life. 

2M 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

It develops patience, perseverance and 
resourcefulness; qualities useful every- 
where, and for all pupils. Something 
of this should be given in all grades, to 
all children, whatever their future desti- 
nation. 

There should be established in towns 
and cities of considerable size the inter- 
mediate industrial school for children 
of about fourteen years of age. The 
ages from fourteen to sixteen are finan- 
cially unprofitable and educationally 
sterile years for children who leave 
school and go to work at that time. 
Admission to the skilled trades is ordi- 
narily not until sixteen; and the inter- 
mediate industrial school, with work 
under actual conditions of production, 
resulting in usable and valuable prod- 
ucts, saves the children from desultory 
drifting, from the blind alleys of un- 
developing juvenile occupations, and 
increases their industrial outlook, their 
industrial efficiency, and consequently 
their industrial opportunity. It also 
215 



ni i r 

a an i 

indufti 

Lllll I! 

nli the | 
fundamental to lai 

1 1 

in i literal 

In the lai nmun uM 

n the industi 

DimUO where 

i mid- 

d I the i and 

fman mechanic 

I i ■ 

1 .1 Half 

I profl 

pmeni f-»r t! I pu- 

. a I f R hop at 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

the same time that he is having half time 
in school; so that the problem of support, 
which would be a very serious one for 
a whole time trade school or technical 
high school, is partly met. 

A recent report of the Secretary of 
the Massachusetts State Board of Edu- 
cation says: "The most effective agency 
in the intellectual development of a boy 
is not the study of books. It is expe- 
rience in some form of productive 
industry. It is making something or do- 
ing something that has value in itself 
w r hen it is done. Not only does he ac- 
quire skill of hand, but what is of much 
more importance, he gets an idea of the 
elements involved in all productive 
processes, namely, material, labor, and 
time; he gets some basis for estimating 
values in terms of cost; and he acquires 
that quality which is the mark of the mas- 
ter workman — power to see the end from 
the beginning, and to trace the line 
which connects the two. Feeble at first, 
but gaining strength as his work broad- 
217 



nn r 

. !. mprch 

thai mtrkl the* thinker. 1 Ic g 

the til ' ; . 

plan and .1 v. 
a ten* ihip in i piet I nao- 

i ni v. 

I this nat ad beald cess 

i toal ' - op I 

velopmeni the 
im] 

: trail ai There 

II ! 

Id, he ii 
tional it he leei a proceM 

p in] len I me< hani< al per- 
• ictive in 
an] tense ol partnership <>r 1 
fault of die 
nni 5 .1 con- 

ilit : Bul the i It] lici if it f 

d to make op to the b 

what the rived of. \ 

.ukc for ini 
pment tf 
manual in 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

ing school traditions and school machin- 
ery are impediments." 

"The city owes its boys, first, land for 
cultivation, where they may learn by 
experience some of the initial processes 
of that industry that underlies all other 
industries — the production of food. Sec- 
ond, workshops, where they may learn 
by experience those mechanical processes 
that underlie all constructive industry — 
real workshops, where a boy with a 
work-apron and soiled hands would not 
feel out of place. The so-called manual 
training is not the sort of work I am 
talking about. That is too scholastic and 
unnatural." 

Of course this industrial education is 
not a substitute for but a supplement to 
the education already given mainly 
through books. How then can time and 
money be found for it? In three ways. 
First, some of the abstract scholastic work 
can be cut out with comparatively little 
loss. Second, the pupils without injury 
to health can spend more time on a com- 
219 



nil OF l III I 

tod in 
than t 

I 
tan< e, the 

in- 

k, w ill m n the • 

I wills oi th< ll that the] I .in 

• 
amount me 
U f 01 the n die \nn - i in : 

pie never li 1 ne\ ma- 

ncntlv w ithhold the i hildren tl 

them • pemii- 

turc w ho nvin< ed that it 

r real go< : I h and 

the convic rion that do m hool sytttaa 
mplete with len 

un»l in the omntrs. and it- WOrksh 
in the len 

and the 

pul nj the h tribul 

we can mak the 

ment «»i oui future 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 

With reference to the choice of a vo- 
cation, What is that creature that they 
call a child? We all know what he is 
by aature — an imitator and admirer of 
the biggest, bravest thing that chances 
to come across the path of his experience: 
stage-driver, locomotive engineer, motor- 
man, chauffeur, teamster, or wheelbar- 
row man, according to the method of 
transportation which chances to be dom- 
inant in his immediate environment: 
cook, nurse, stenographer, teacher, artist, 
according to the girl's surroundings. In 
the streets of a certain city in my state, 
where prohibition was being spasmodi- 
cally enforced by the deputy sheriffs, fa- 
vorite vocations represented in the games 
of the children were those of liquor-seller 
and deputy: one set of the children gath- 
ering together in out-of-the-way places 
rows of tin cans full of colored water; 
others stealthily creeping up to purchase; 
others standing at the corners as senti- 
221 



/■/// 

group, 

kct ; tily 

pty th 

hardly 
likely th. r the 

kee] r thai the 

r whu h these 
Idren had th ptitude, and 

in whu h thej would \\ in most ha] 
• 

• en- 

■nment, the real bent oi the child rc- 

maini un 

into i una V I nal 

• the 

I 

uncut in 

• rk, ai 

: the 

:i the in- 

tmunity, and 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

the world outside. Then when the boy 
or girl must leave school and look for 
work, the Vocational Counselor aims to 
steer the child away from the blind alleys 
of juvenile employment, where wages 
may be a little higher than they are 
at first in more skilled occupations, but 
which afford no chance for development 
and promotion; and to bring the aptitude 
of the child and the demand of the in- 
dustry together for the mutual advantage 
of the child and the employer. Instead 
of the haphazard drifting into the most 
convenient, or most immediately lucra- 
tive, or the most alluring vocation, the 
Vocational Counselor aims to place the 
child in line for the development of his 
specific bent, the acquisition of valuable 
skill and experience, and introduction to 
a useful and happy life career. 

By leaflets, lectures, excursions, and 
personal conferences, the Vocational 
Counselor keeps before the children's 
minds the openings and opportunities, 
the drawbacks and difficulties of the va- 

223 



EST 

Ki ind nth 

year, where the intei ndotti 

• . • . .'. I 

he 

md 

the 

tod thui helj 

tin- .: • ut "f the r«»iiiui 

get the righl i hild in the righi 

N hoiihl 

the I V al I 

w heth( teer teacher, 

lor, 
1<.\\ up the ( hild alter he err 
the that hi 

: and in i 
the pi n he desen 

w hell; hv 

itinual itervu 

hild, h 

end and > staml t<> the 

Id until I I Dial l I 

• that la; 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

fatherhood and motherhood, which 
watches over his development with fond 
solicitude, and sees that society offers 
and he accepts a chance to render that 
specific service in which, all things con- 
sidered, he will be at once most useful 
and most happy. 

Such vocational guidance is not a thing 
that can be done offhand by well-mean- 
ing philanthropy. It requires trained, 
well-paid experts, ranking in education 
and salary with school principals. Until 
such can be secured, the voluntary serv- 
ices of teachers, settlement workers, as- 
sociation secretaries can make a fair be- 
ginning, and prepare the way for more 
systematic work to follow. To make vo- 
cational guidance a complete success we 
must secure the co-operation of school 
boards, superintendents and teachers ; 
manufacturers, merchants, employers and 
leaders of labor; and we must develop 
throughout the community generally a 
sentiment that is keenly alive to the folly 
and wastefulness and wickedness of leav- 
225 



//// Ql I 57 OF I HI Bl w 

caprit in the i 

; kei i l the p 

•], the* men v, th 
ntelligeni 

the indh 

I interest oa the ooe 

mand ind 

m die other I Fntil dm 

i- provide all die i hildren oi the 

Ian en hat 

eotl 1 1 \ tO proride it fof their own chil- 

■l, the children oi the poor arc robbed 
their birthright, our future 
ihul out I Ltifftt : 

MCI due to industrial 

maladjustment 

i in i n r 

w th reference to pit] and p 
and, what ii dial creature that they 
I i child ? I Ee ii i bun lie oi in- 

i ti and imp. 

animal 

have piled up within him, clamoring to 

22 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

get out into expression; and for which 
play and crime are the only alternative 
outlets. Normal civilized life, as or- 
dered by adults and approved by maiden 
aunts, offers these instincts no outlet. 
Yet they cannot, or at least ought not, to 
be repressed. For if a child is either bul- 
lied or coddled into foregoing their nor- 
mal expression, the resulting man or wo- 
man will be a poor, dwarfed, stunted, 
namby-pamby, good-for-nothing weak- 
ling, destitute of dash and daring, initia- 
tive and resourcefulness, enterprise and 
courage, to the end of his stupid and un- 
profitable days. Fortunately, most boys 
are too rough and tough, most girls too 
willful and wayward, to let their well- 
meaning parents and teachers, and aunts 
and preachers, spoil them by successful 
repression. The fox and monkey ances- 
tors within them contrive ways of circum- 
venting any one, whether policeman or 
grandmother, who tries to sit on the valves 
of racial instincts clamoring for vent. 
!And while the fox and monkey in them 

227 



//// Ql 1 w OF I ill /;/ 5f 

p out in • find it fa 

tnyth 'cr- 

iblc in i ' girl I 

the mi. 

\ dimension! of their 
The child I t about su with 

• hiding and findin 
pui ind at ten the 

QStUU t w tli demtnd f * > r team i 

in contest writh other teams, involving the 
princi] I the raid, with 

h other, and 
the 

\t thii late da] I ma] rcntui n- 

.!t the age ol ten, in the pes 
tul vill \ pwi •.. M is., 1 1 

bran< h ol the Ku Klu\ KJan, 
vi hi< h at thai time w i 
j w uh the pi 

n at tl: 3 VI 

had our mcel . e h 11 

. , w here the only light i 

in the 

: the han: I h OUI </\ 

I we pi ind 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

thence went forth at night to execute 
raids on the gardens and orchards of the 
neighborhood, and tick-tack and kindred 
devices to disturb the dreams of would- 
be slumberers. We did what if done in 
a city would have landed us in the station 
house and the police court; yet I am sure 
we all felt that in standing by each other, 
and doing something with a bit of dash 
and daring, and a touch of danger, and 
the chance of what in our vernacular we 
called a "licking" if we got caught, we 
felt as sure as ever did any patriot or 
martyr that we were acting out the Best 
that was in us. In other words, we were 
living loyally and devotedly up to the 
standards and claims of the social group 
whose claims upon us we most keenly felt 
and intensely realized. That to be sure 
is not the whole and the end of virtue, 
nor inconsistent with much which from 
other points of view is vice; but it is the 
beginning, and a good large beginning of 
virtue; and, when developed, the best de- 
fender against the meaner forms of vice. 
229 



rn / w OP THE Hi w 

her 
• I All 

boys and n< Lined 

he ! v»m< • :. (o their 

better than themi Thai 

the truth at the 

turc illy 

.. they 
i the • 
It r . ■■.•■. 1 1 

nel\ and sympathetically prc- 

■\ will fasten 
thai is no) foi in- 

when the ruin 

tiled to brinj my 

; . really feel i 

the 

newspi 

id and admii N m in 

I am bound to into I the 

D the 

the rig itreel in n 1 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

have found it fair and just to interpret 
my own experience. 

Play is a social device for setting be- 
fore young persons an outlet for their in- 
stincts of hiding and seeking, raiding 
and fighting, team play and repartee, 
which shall develop these instincts for the 
good of the child without injuring others 
and breaking the laws of society. Play, 
according to our best authority, Dr. 
Luther Gulick, is "the spontaneous en- 
listment of the entire personality in the 
pursuit of a coveted end." Without such 
spontaneous, whole-hearted enlistment in 
the pursuit of ends no strong character 
can be developed. It is the stuff physical 
vigor, mental power, and moral force is 
made of; and to expect these qualities of 
any child who has not time, place, com- 
pany and leadership for play is to repeat 
the criminal folly of the Egyptian de- 
mand for bricks without straw. 

Somehow these instincts are coming 
out, but society has an option on the form 
they shall take. Boys will deceive; but 
231 



//// 57 OP l Hi Bl ST 

i whethei il ihall 

; i ipp< 
. 1 instead -hoots 
in or out fi bul wre h. 

the i whether it diall t>C fill 

the l the li 

the 

will hit tiling and kuk 

nash t ; bul we have the 

hethei it ihall be the- lawl 
windows and d 

and g 

and i fairlj 

I i 1 1 h. 

whether these ins( c lei 

the pi Iriven, nd 

all, into the pen ry. The pi 

und m ivemeni sttem] I the 

il 1 auA hap] I I r the child. 

It 

10 attem; | 

nature With- 

llly healthy men and 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 



women without becoming, in the process, 
juvenile delinquents and criminals. 

In the country nature provides this op- 
portunity freely. A city, by its very na- 
ture which is congestion, and its first law 
which is interference, tends to thwart and 
repress every physical instinct of the 
child. There are trees he must not climb ; 
there is grass on which he must not walk; 
flowers and fruit he must not pick; stones 
he must not throw; water in which he 
must not swim; hills on which he must 
not coast; animals he must not hunt or 
annoy. It is not the fault of the city as 
such. It is simply the brute fact; the way 
a city develops if left to develop itself, 
without special consideration of the child. 
Yet it is the fault of the citizens of the 
city if they allow that brute fact to stand ; 
if, in others words, they allow the city 
to develop without special consideration 
for the child. 

The birthright of the city child there- 
fore requires that the city shall furnish 
enough playgrounds, well enough located, 

233 



//// 

11 the 

in tl 

mngi and land 

pile and ath- 

lcti ef and 

■ 
ter and iwimm 

•her in all 
1 i •; m re ii m than the . 

the pli icr. 

thoul SUCh a leader the p] tod 

t merelj usel 
pernio I i throw chil lif- 

. ari- 
ttionalities, all degree ntelli- 

the 

lac k of then ;her without firm I 

I ] 

Police | 

• : • • leall v. 
iter it has been COmmitl 
Or when it is ftboill I 

I mere iu . 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

tive protection from violence, but tact and 
resourcefulness to draw out the shy and 
wake up the dull, as well as to squelch 
the bully and shame the sneak. The play- 
leader must be alert, athletic, able to see 
through boys and girls as clearly as if 
their bodies were transparent glass; wise 
to pick out the natural leaders and de- 
velop in them a sense of responsibility; 
and above all, with a contagious passion 
for fair play. This is a somewhat rare 
combination of qualities, but must be 
sought, secured, and paid for. The pro- 
vision of play for our city children is 
itself no play; but serious, costly business. 
Like all reforms, it may have to begin 
with unpaid volunteers ; but whether paid 
or unpaid, the leaders must have this com- 
bination of tact, force, insight, sympathy, 
and contagious passion for fun and fair 
play, or the whole movement will be 
worse than a failure, and, as has already 
happened in such cases, the playground 
will have to be closed in the interests of 
decency and common morality. If, how- 
235 



THE QUEST 01 THi I 

. w hatever pi 

l ut the • man 
:i ^ has r pi 

unt v. 

the 

the good 
:ul girl 
•lv better than tlu ild be other- 

i ttei ti 
the 

111! !( \I MI! 

With refer© 
uli thai th 1 a 

chil 

lether tin len w ; ults or 

until about ago 

it was th • of the l 

| 

with tin rather 

than the uit 

u\ the court ask 

I I the b« mil 

the ^ nine: What -hall v. 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

the injured party and protect society? To 
be sure, the more enlightened states had 
substituted reform or industrial schools 
for jails and prisons; and in these reform 
and industrial schools the walls had been 
torn down and the bars taken out, and 
comfortable open cottages, with half a 
day of school and half a day of work, 
substituted for the big, formidable cen- 
tral building where inmates were con- 
fined under lock and key. Yet until about 
a dozen years ago, and in many communi- 
ties still, the process of indictment, trial, 
conviction and sentence has been the old 
process in which the offender was viewed 
simply as the subject of the offense and 
the object of punishment. In 1899 the 
first juvenile court was established in Il- 
linois. Within the past dozen years the 
principle has spread by leaps and bounds. 
The British Parliament, profiting by 
American example, has passed an act 
known as the Children's Charter, the pur- 
pose of which was stated in the debate 
in the House of Commons as follows: 
237 



/■/// 

I thai I the 

noi h 
I in tl \ it ihall be n 

. thai it ii the dutj of thii I ' 
menl that tl P tei 

mil I ret< uc him. 

hut tl n the 

w hat, then, ii the juvenile court 

m the nal 

I he ju ts not bent I). 

Inn in< hea h 

; .1 tab! tl I : : 

• 

hild 
; the i .tu. if he- 

put his hand on the chil 
l ni. ill ; the idly curi 

and 

t pub I \s I)i H. 

II Hart 1 M AII suggest ind 

: iminality are eliminai 

I I 

the 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

complaint or indictment, but a petition 
alleging that the child is delinquent. 
There is ordinarily no warrant or arrest, 
but a summons is issued to the parent or 
custodian of the child, requiring him to 
produce the child in court at a certain 
time; and the child comes into court, not 
in the hands of an officer of the law, but 
in the company of his father or mother. 
When the case comes to trial there is no 
prosecutor present, but a probation offi- 
cer is there 'to represent the interests of 
the child.' The effort is not to establish 
the guilt of the child, but to ascertain a 
condition. When the trial is concluded 
the child is not found guilty, but is simply 
found delinquent. When the child is 
found delinquent he is not sentenced to 
any punishment. He may be committed 
to the care of a suitable institution for 
training and education, or he may be com- 
mitted to the care of a child-helping soci- 
ety, or he may be committed to the care of 
some suitable individual; or, the judge 
may do what is done in the majority of 
239 



//// Ql i F III/ BEST 

\\n 
»th tO 

( hi Id fiii parent the 

Id dm the friendly 

ar«l 
iit. Illbja t to return fur further 

find it 

Tin 

■ 

•. h.it thai ( on 

take the ! I • • 

the 

foi him. provided thai \n itfa the 
;he judge and I 

r, thai home 

c 10 he ni 

the proper I .; >f the child The 

next fa new home 10 nily 

I hv the probation 

w here he ^ an have that tttCOl 

ire unable 
nnwillinj at 

plat : put 

where he I an he trained in hah 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

dience, industry and responsibility which 
will fit him for usefulness and normal 
domestic life. 

In other words, the function of the ju- 
venile court is not primarily punitive, but 
remedial, and the judge and the proba- 
tion officer are in the relation of physi- 
cian and nurse to a patient in need of 
treatment and care. The medicine given 
may be bitter or it may be sweet; the 
child may or may not like it; but it is 
given for his good as well as for the good 
of society, and administered in kindness 
as well as firmness. 

The juvenile court then rests on two 
principles: the child under sixteen shall 
not be treated as a criminal, and the court 
in dealing with children shall not attempt 
the absurdly impossible task of "fitting 
the punishment to the crime" by a sen- 
tence to a penal institution for a definite 
period. How absurd this is in the case 
of young children is well illustrated by 
the case that first impressed Judge Lind- 
sey. Presiding at the county court, he 
241 



THE Ql i F nil. : 

i banded u in 
md cntci ing an I nd« 

tno wttn l>ut 

three In 

• 
than the 

J ' . 

and tlu- raili 

ue O 'ill ; 

n Ym, j * figs. 

od, V ftiuc * 

.1 ketch !>ut 

"n't \c hi \\\\< 

in v full of 

ttle and drink'd 
I hade 

IWJ 

J n bet 1 bul 

fimmi lie drink'd t* 

\ . that w 
ent nd bu 

it u.i> in the law. 

Hut t<> inflict that penalty 01 an] j 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

it; to sentence them to a longer or shorter 
imprisonment with older, hardened crim- 
inals, would be to treat them as criminals 
and tend to make them become criminals. 
That might serve the purposes of the rail- 
road to protect it from further depreda- 
tions by these particular offenders and 
their friends, but it would be the worst 
possible thing that could happen to the 
children. 

What they need depends on what sort 
of parents and homes they have, what sort 
of training they have had, and what sort 
of children they are. If the parents are 
upright, and able and willing to train 
their children; if the act of depredation 
was the result of momentary impulse, and 
does not represent habits of disobedience 
and lawlessness, the best thing for these 
boys is to be admonished by the judge, to 
have their parents admonished, to be pun- 
ished by their parents, and to be looked 
after by the probation officer as long as 
is necessary to insure that they are re- 
ceiving such a training in their homes as 

243 



Till QUESl I III 1:1 w 

le the:' ' the tcoi] 

iiu thai do not 1 1 
the well d ad amenable 
bui t! rend arc drunk- 
en. . then the I 
tin: in 
[her home W here thej W ill I 

an r. tin lei the 

mpatb 

1 1 both the I ad their ; 

:. then the best tfa I then. 

a\ indefinite period t«> 

an institution, i i pen.. i their 

me, hut ai a meani ; them 

that | 

w hi( h l- : : elp theni make Dp 

• time in moral Bent, and i 

industry an.: ; ul- 

I he thing that r the boys — 

that l- what the Juvenile Court 

d the pi 'hat 

the welfare o\ t! e than 

the : the merchan- 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

dise or the money they may have taken. 
In other words, the Juvenile Court aims 
to leave all children in their own homes 
who have parents who are able and will- 
ing to give them the care and training 
to which they are entitled, and to give 
to those unfortunate children who lack 
good homes and firm, kind parents, the 
closest approximation to them that can 
be found. 

Such is the aim of the Juvenile Court. 
It is not a cure-all for every form of de- 
linquency. It depends like all human in- 
stitutions mainly on the personality of the 
judges and the probation officers who ad- 
minister it. Where, as in the Manhat- 
tan Court until recently, the judges are 
assigned for brief periods in rotation; and 
there is no adequate staff of paid pro- 
bation officers, the whole system fails of 
its purpose, and becomes a source of 
amusement and ridicule both to the po- 
lice and to the offending children. Even 
from Denver we get conflicting accounts 
of the success of the Juvenile Court un- 
245 



THE QUI w . /// ; 

■ 
larizc the m at 

The judge ihou r i ihn 

\c-t kindlj : firm \<*t a 

I law j dc wh 

hild 
nfining n 

all 
nd tit-.-. m a 

lure oi die i 

: and in pn 

•i will : in pun- 

iihment| bol u the friend oi tl 

intent 'i tnd with him 

plan- * 

tei I 

retenti rental interest in the 

re. 
The . t •. l be 

i man oi r mtn 
I intell 

• the higher n hool 

• 
I the poorer 

act, 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

with keenness and decision; who can't be 
fooled and won't be sentimental ; yet who 
in administering medicine whether it be 
sweet or bitter, will ever keep the child's 
whole interest in mind. There should 
be at least one such paid probation offi- 
cer for every seventy-five children under 
his or her charge. The paid probation 
officers may to some extent be reinforced 
by voluntary probation officers, though 
such unpaid workers should not be en- 
trusted with more than one or two 
children apiece. Here, as everywhere, 
unpaid service is only a makeshift: a 
temporary expedient to tide over the time 
between the establishment of the juvenile 
court, and the time which ought to come 
after two or three years of experience 
when the public will support a staff of 
properly paid probation officers. 

As a result of this thorough investi- 
gation and continued oversight of all that 
affects the welfare of the delinquent child, 
there comes to be a clear understanding 
of the causes of the child's delinquency: 
247 



THE Ql l i / 

pun- 
ishment ol ncj I pan 

■ 
linqu 
The Juvenile ( II \m I 

well nqneni child 

m the jail: mth heavj p 

the 

I privilege-, w 
and c han< 

hi Id 
ih.it h tained t h him i 

• 

suting an inter, i the jud 

want 

the inn w ith the ju 

cir 

Of in n 

dial the life and 

itmenti <»t the me, 

while i and \n ; me, mutt not be 

made raffle ientlj lead a child 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

to prefer the detention home to his own 
home- 
Connected with the Juvenile Court 
and the detention home there should be 
a clinic; as many of the causes of de- 
linquency in children are physical, and 
can be largely removed by proper hy- 
gienic, medical or surgical treatment. 
On the staff of physicians, as on the staff 
of probation officers, there should be 
women to deal with the cases of delin- 
quency in girls; which thus far has 
proved more difficult to correct than de- 
linquency in boys. For instance, in Chi- 
cago, a fraction over eighty per cent, of 
all the boys put under probation up to 
January, 1908, had not returned to court; 
while of all the delinquent girls put un- 
der probation up to July, 1909, only 
fifty-five per cent, had not returned. 

The best part of the influence of the 
Juvenile Court and the probation office 
is in the cases it settles outside of even 
the Juvenile Court by the probation of- 
ficer: who in so doing assumes and exer- 

249 



THE QUI w OF THl 

n an .mil ; i he has no 

ant. but t tra 

i the intcn 
and the ^ hild etter than 

D the Juvenile Court ^ OOld : . I 

inti in Cleveland, in i<r><>. 2,400 

w LthotU the intervent: the 

• 

and the child 11 pi 
:n the and publicity \ 

en tin able f: rmal 

D mi a Juvenile I 
Still the Jul 

[j philanthropic institut 
and its pi ihould be goven 

the al prii ad re- 

The claim 

• • ultimate pa: 

all the dependent] within id I 

novel or illegal one That the 
Court of ( 

ai having the right 1 

\\ dlC pi : the [ 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

minors within its jurisdiction; and that 
"the right of the parent to retain the so- 
ciety and services of the child is right- 
fully suspended when the parent is un- 
successful in keeping the child in a state 
of obedience to the criminal law of the 
state," and that the right of parental con- 
trol is a natural but not an inalienable 
one, has been shown conclusively by 
Judge William W. Mack, of the Ap- 
pellate Court, First District, Illinois, in 
a paper read before the American Bar 
Association in 1909. 

In towns and cities not large enough 
to require the establishment of a Juve- 
nile Court, the essential features of it 
may be introduced without the full ma- 
chinery. For instance, in Portland, 
Maine, the police practically con- 
duct separate hearings for the chil- 
dren. When a child comes into the sta- 
tion he is taken into a private office, 
where the captain on duty, or in some 
cases the chief, talks to him, discovers 
his difficulty, decides on the treatment, 
251 



; , unleti the the 

• • 

ich M to ni 

the leel that t! 

I 

l I I the b yi h 

I lltj hen tl 
there the p.i rent- Ittmn 

) them the COflditiOQI <»t' the 

wiys 
i OVei t<» the | 
\\h • th the p 

M int ( the child 

usually put on . 
i >nc j 

he deemi nei 

j week Of t 

:n icl : Mid the ol 

with IODIC kirul 
In r 

he tak ind 

tells h It 

Dm!- 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

formed officer to escort him along the 
street. It usually results in one of two 
evils. In some cases it stirs up the boy's 
spirit of bravado and makes him a seri- 
ous offender later; to have been 
"pinched" makes him the hero of the 
"gang," and in order to maintain his 
reputation he would go to greater crime 
as soon as the effects of the first offense 
had worn off. On the other hand, it 
would place upon the boy a stigma 
which handicaps him when he tries to 
regain a place in good society. Some 
of the children are turned over to an 
agent of the Children's Protective So- 
ciety, either by the officers or by the 
Court. She possesses great power in 
these cases under the Act for the Pro- 
tection of Children; in some respects the 
same power as the policeman or the 
sheriff. 

Viewed superficially the Juvenile 
Court looks like a mere change of 
names — from bench to platform, indict- 
ment to petition, warrant to summons, 

253 



I 

m 
nqueo tention t» m 

the like. 

mentally 
i) ret: i to aid, from in 

• mp.itl 

tell i .1 hollow m 

me- f a 

josi m tmeni of the lymp- 

kin I :\. 

II: I THI ■ 

I I 

what he 

rttei than h But 

be ial in I 

ard vrhai I 

is quite as 

lik n the bni- 

thc bigness in the 

w loose rather than the Itren 
in lawful Ih BM in a kind- 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

hearted criminal, rather than the good- 
ness in a strait-laced saint And in 
certain quarters of all our cities the big- 
ness in a strait-laced saint. And in cer- 
tain quarters of all our cities the big- 
over in the criminal, are likely to come 
much closer to him than the bigness of 
great-hearted gentleness, the strength of 
manly and womanly self-control, and the 
goodness of law-abiding self-sacrifice. 
Now it is part of the birthright of every 
child, part of the making of every future 
citizen, to have the best kind of bigness, 
the bravest kind of strength, the purest 
kind of goodness brought home to him 
in the persons of men and women who 
get near enough to him, and share enough 
of his life with him, to let him see and 
feel their big-heartedness, their strong 
manliness, their pure womanliness for 
what they really are. A boy or girl who 
has not had that experience, has not had 
his or her birthright; has not had one 
ten thousandth of a chance to grow up 
into large, strong, sweet manhood and 
255 



THE QUES1 01 THl BJ w 

maoho( -1 I d othei w thcj hi 
had moral and religioui in 

gotten 
the <>M formi temeol in 

wliu h thil truth bad id 

n, it illy 

true, that \n itllOUl IO< h IMp 

chai poe- 

nan 
man. We mutt all be b the 

mutt all, that !i the 

pal good living from ><>nn thai 

let ui I 

tnd reprodtlt 

it- fi' ] 

\ that il what the boys 1 

ibt, the ^i 
M ' ■ N it 

■ 
that .1: 

na t: :i \'. ui settlements and in 

tut: nal c hui I ; 

una t- igethei <»r | . .u r \nu. 

; the\ ma\ Itod] arithme' 
the\ DO |C pin 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

they may study engineering or salesman- 
ship ; they may call themselves Scouts or 
Junior Republics; the essential thing in 
them all is that they shall feel the close, 
warm, winning, compelling presence of 
character in another person and through 
imitation, admiration, and affection, make 
that character their own. 

There is no cheaper, no more formal, 
wholesale way of doing this supreme 
business of helping boys and girls to be 
good. You may hand down goodness to 
them in the form of precepts; you may 
poke it at them in the form of lessons; 
and you will make little impression on 
any of them, and least impression on 
those who are latently and potentially 
strongest. Share with them something 
enjoyable, something useful, something 
no matter how arduous, and they are 
yours to mold and transform as you will. 

To some extent this personal inspira- 
tion is provided as a by-product of the 
other phases of child welfare already 
considered. Industrial education implies 
257 



//// Ql i I HI. Bl W 

id tau 

at a comic mu< h bettei 

i bant than the 

mal relation w I 

in the m I Ik- \ 

onal ( ti at the verj he 

I intei probl( 

Tli the dnlii 

Qd W here inline- 

the 1 uvenile I pi rappotei that 

13 mpathi ' -i the : 

; i make- in- 
|C Yd D I at 

all these incidental 

uhcrr w hah 

the commun the 

m 00 the part 

They may use lit! much moral ma- 
r man] 

book-; hut the power and the fruitful- 

R il! depend mainly on the in; 

ral and spiritual enthusiasm 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

these leaders possess, and the tact with 
which they express and exemplify them 
in their work and play, their study 
and conferences, with the groups and in- 
dividuals they undertake to lead. 

To do for boys and girls all the other 
things we have described, and not do 
this, would be to leave our whole prob- 
lem less than half solved. For Conduct 
is three-fourths of life: and high ideals 
of conduct and character, caught from 
an older person who has them and shares 
them, is the biggest and best part of the 
heritage of the child; the highest and 
hardest part of the training of the future 
citizen. 

Such is the creature they call a child. 
Such are the main features of his birth- 
right. Such is society's obligation to its 
future citizens: — Protection from pre- 
mature, excessive, injurious and demor- 
alizing labor by child labor laws; in- 
dustrial coupled with cultural education; 
vocational guidance; playgrounds and 
play-leaders; for the remnant who, with 

259 



//// OP mi Bl JT 

all these i through fail 

retcbc them, Mill go a*' the 

metbodl ami A the Jwwnilc Court 

ami t! I for all, 

the intpii pi ith those 

who rhcrmelvei ihtrc the interests of 

j n and gii 

mlj prophet 
tttem] ascs 

(, bild m m their < ' oo- 

i tod ngi troui pr in 

their pla< C 00 the program re- 

I political 1 all 

twentieth cental i cry 

lib f God for d 

The first ju- 

urt w | in Illinois in 

head of v. ^ to 

the i hild 9 i century. In 

a matter and 

\. m\A pi based 

thereon, ii older than the century; hut 

ipted t life he 

re, it the last 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

decade. The National Child Labor 
Committee, which has wrought such a 
revolution in sentiment, and is enacting 
and executing laws faster than any 
other single agency, was formed in 
1904, and thus is only nine years 
old. The Playground Association of 
America has had only six annual meet- 
ings. Vocational Guidance is still an in- 
fant in arms; having been systematically 
adopted into our school systems only as 
late as 1909. And though in a sense 
religious and moral inspiration is as 
old as the Sunday School and the cate- 
chetical class, the efforts to work for 
boys, with boys, through boys for their 
all-round development, and for their 
moral and spiritual development as part 
and parcel of that total development, is 
very new, as represented by the Federated 
Boys' Clubs, the Boy Scout movement, the 
Y. M. C. A. Boy-Leader instead of the 
Y. M. C. A. janitor-solicitor secretary. 

While thus the child welfare move- 
ment is the youngest of our great social 

261 



illl ni I W or Till 

the mot! pr Ig and 

petal I the chil 

nttion th< 
mtl grovt th, w I 

npath 
make the 

ni, eflu tent, public ipii 
better breed of men ami women 

Tin mini contains a legend thai 

when Muso w .. -lie- lav. 

i for hii p< the Aim 

tided h< \l i the 

pat 

i I l raham, arc pre a thy 

of t! I I ) . But the Almighty 

I them 

M I the p; 1 ph 

t men 
rthy of the La* I ) v •■ Bui 
the Almight] 

Then M -e> pi 

the c hil people, ami 

the w 

The w 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

to-day for the coming of the Divine Law, 
as it applies to the hard problem of 
happy, wholesome human labor and the 
just distribution of its products. We no 
longer expect that law to come down 
from a burning mount, engraved on tables 
of stone. We understand that God gives 
his law to-day through the sensitive hearts 
and enlightened minds of His- people. 
But as in the ancient legend, He requires 
hostages to-day. 

And the children are hostages God 
will accept. Give God children protect- 
ed against industrial exploitation; chil- 
dren made vigorous and healthy by 
guided, guarded, play; children whose 
hands and brains are simultaneously and 
symmetrically developed by cultural and 
industrial training; children who are 
guided by their own developed and dis- 
covered aptitudes into congenial and 
fruitful vocations; children who when 
they go wrong are helped back to the 
right by a firm friendliness ; children who 
are inspired to growth in righteousness 
263 



/•// //// 

ho thi tl 

:n tin 

uplift their .1 in ex< ban 

l 
the new law . i md 

uli ic induiti it] 

I id ^i r Is 

in : n ill 

when tl; | h the 

twent A nation that 

. making their interest! 
inters all. i| U)d 

men and w • men. 

I the I t is that in thoi caring 

hildren, and g them tl 

tinishing the 
burden of 

restl on the individual man; hut rather 

I re, ami 

play, m\A all-round n, and 

jrmpathetic d 

• the 

Id, make the pi f the parent 

: in thoughtfulncM ami i 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

tion; greater in toil and taxes. But it 
raises up a coming generation with 
greater health and strength to bear it. 

This vast many-sided reform will not 
come all at once, nor easily. There will 
be, as there have been already, break- 
downs and set-backs; and many handles 
for carping criticism to seize. Child 
labor laws will be evaded, and incidental 
and individual hardships will be magni- 
fied. Playgrounds without proper pro- 
tection and leadership will have to be 
closed to stop the spread of immorality, 
in the future, as they have had to be 
closed under those conditions in some 
cities already. Industrial education and 
vocational guidance will have to wait 
for trained teachers and counselors and 
in the meantime suffer much from fail- 
ures due to incompetent teaching, ama- 
teur counsel, and attempts of employers 
to capture the whole movement as a 
means of exploiting the child for their 
own immediate advantage. Juvenile 
courts will encourage lawlessness in the 
265 



//// I w 

future .is thej bare in the 
; the jud 

: mi hard Of I too indif- 

the Assoc- I lut) will 

d sentimentality in the future as 
in ; it, wh< I down 

:n | diStm< 1 Oi hen 

; by com 

point 

Lot* 

i ertheless, this child welfare m 

ment bis ma<le m .re pr< 'LMe>s in 

than ti ) ever 

made in the lame length of time The 

like w ild-fii - it 

onlv i be eh | :n the 

rappori of all right 

kind-! men. 

It ii b ritten into le 

md 
it in half a dozet 

It fulfilli the am 
prophecy that i little child ihall U 



BIRTHRIGHT OF THE CHILD 

the world into that happy union of in- 
dustrial efficiency, economic justice, so- 
cial brotherhood, spiritual idealism, and 
mutual good will, which is the desire and 
dream of us all; and which we can help 
on to fulfillment most sanely and safely 
and swiftly and surely by giving the child 
of to-day, the citizen of to-morrow, his 
rightful heritage of protection from pre- 
mature, excessive, dangerous and de- 
moralizing work; guarded and guided 
play; practical and interesting education; 
congenial and expanding vocation; sym- 
pathetic correction, and personally com- 
municated inspiration. 



267 



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